We Need a Border Wall for National Security

NEW YORK -- As the bench-clearing brawl over border security roars on, it would behoove wall advocates to broaden their pitch. A wall would slash illegal immigration on the southern frontier. And it also would bolster U.S. national security and counterterrorism.Not every illegal immigrant dodges Gila monsters and skirts cacti in search of the American dream. Beyond old-fashioned killers, such as the remarkably brutal MS-13 gang, "special interest aliens" hail from nations rife with militant Islam, including Iran, Pakistan and Syria. Most of these border jumpers may be perfectly harmless, but the risk that even a few may crave American blood is a needless gamble.Federal agents in 2015 nabbed 3,977 people from the four places that the State Department then classified as "state sponsors of terrorism," plus 10 others that the Transportation Safety Administration designated as "countries of interest." All told, 67,180 individuals from those 14 nations were intercepted while attempting to enter America illegally, from fiscal years 2006 through 2015, according to the Department of Homeland Security's 2015 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, released last November.  Continue reading...

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