Former President Donald Trump said this week that he believes there will be a terrorist attack within the United States due to the nation’s current border situation. The former president’s comments came amid concerns about nationals from the Middle East and China crossing into the United States with minimal detection.
Trump cited the more than six million illegal immigrants estimated to have entered the country since President Joe Biden took office in 2021. This includes more than three million in 2023 alone.
The former president said that the migrants were “pouring into our country, and these include terrorists.” Trump’s Friday comments before the NRA’s annual meeting in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania were met with applause.
“You have a 100% chance of a major terror attack in the not-too-distant future. It’s a terrible thing to say,” Trump said.
Trump compared Biden’s border approach to his own “travel ban” in which “we didn’t take people from countries with the massive terrorism attacks.”
“We don’t want our shopping centers blown up,” Trump said. “We don’t want our people destroyed. We don’t want dead children where a family will never be the same.”
Trump also cited the increase in crime due to the migrant flow. He added that the country is “likely to face a 100% chance of a terrorist attack.”
Last year saw a significant increase in the number of Chinese nationals attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
The former president’s assertions were backed by other Republicans. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said that the Biden administration’s border policies had allowed in “hundreds of known terrorists and countless drug traffickers.”
74% say the border situation is a crisis
74% see the border situation as an invasion
71% approve of more border wall construction
63% say border security is a vital nat security interest
54% say Trump is right about the wall
And all of these are Black Voters pic.twitter.com/XLIepr5vPz— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) February 12, 2024
“Joe Biden has the power to secure the border, but he has willfully neglected to act,” Mullin wrote on social media.
A report issued last year found nearly 200 individuals who illegally entered the country while on the federal terrorism watchlist.
Sen. Shelly More Capito (R-WV) said in a statement last year that “even if these apprehensions represent a minority, the potential devastation from a single individual with malign intentions cannot be overstated.”
