More than 23 years after the September 11 attacks, radical Islamic terrorism remains as big a threat to America as ever. The recent arrest of an Afghan national in Oklahoma who was plotting an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack on Election Day has raised major concerns about the vetting of foreign nationals. At the same time, the House Homeland Security Committee has released a new report detailing 50 cases of Islamic terrorism across 29 states, including Texas, just since 2021.
This surge in terror cases in recent years coincides with the chaotic and disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Indeed, the Oklahoma suspect arrived in the U.S. days after that withdrawal on a special immigrant visa program. At the same time, the U.S. took in tens of thousands of Afghan refugees who were resettled into the country. In addition, about 400 individuals on the terror watchlist have been caught at the southern border since fiscal year 2021. "Biden, Harris and Mayorkas decided they were going to go against the best practices when it comes to securing the homeland," says Charles Marino, former DHS senior adviser in an interview with Fox News. "And they implemented policies that actively undercut the very departments and agencies that were created in the aftermath of September 11th."
The House committee report specifically blames the Biden administration for its "policy failures" and calls for a change in course "to protect the homeland." Marino is not surprised the Oklahoma terrorist was able to get in amongst the throngs of Afghan refugees. "We've got people exploiting the system, because this is a rush to process," he tells Fox. "This is a rush by this administration based on their politics, to quickly change the demographics of this country...despite what it does to our overall national security."
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