With Middle East turmoil grabbing all the headlines, the growing national security threat posed by America's porous border with Mexico has dropped off the federal government's radar, an Arizona sheriff told
Newsmax TV on Friday.
"We've been forgotten about by our president and others in this administration whose eyes are averted and are off the ball," Pinal County, Ariz., sheriff Paul Babeu told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner.
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"We've been saying for years … that this is probably the greatest national security threat that our nation faces," said Babeu, "because it provides — with this open border — a natural avenue of approach for our enemy from any part of the world — not just ISIS, any possible terrorist threat.
"The border is not secure," he concluded.
With hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants entering the United States through Mexico each year, most simply in search of jobs and better lives, it's not a stretch to assume that a motivated terrorist would have even less trouble crossing over, said Babeu.
"It stands to reason that those people with military training who are very disciplined, have deliberate plans, who have all the financial resources at their disposal, that they could also make it undetected and … harm our nation," he said.
Babeu, who has tangled with the Obama administration over immigration before, said that aid promised to southwestern states at the height of this summer's border crisis — when thousands of Central Americans were arriving — has yet to materialize.
"That's more talk and more lies," said Babeu.
"Here's the proof," he said, holding up a flyer depicting a man he identifed as a both an illegal immigrant and a member of one of the drug cartels doing business on both sides of the border.
This particular man "was deported — and he freely admitted it — 16 times," said Babeu.
"This guy was just arrested this past month. This time we caught him was number 17."
For Babeu, arrest No. 17 underlined his point that, "clearly, there's no consequences for breaking the law, whether you're a cartel member or if you're an illegal immigrant.
"We shouldn't be surprised to wonder why he's going to be back next month or another month from now, an 18th time," he said, adding, "How many other times now has he been in our country without our knowledge or without our permission?
"If this guy and scores of others can get through … the president has absolutely failed in his core responsibility in the constitution to protect and defend our nation here at home," said Babeu.
Babeu reiterated
his call for a U.S. military presence along the country's entire southwestern border, saying the president should send enough troops to patrol the entire U.S.-Mexico frontier, and then "build the infrastructure to permanently sustain that security."
Babeu said that critics of tougher border enforcement — such as
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto — can't be the arbiters of U.S. national security policy.
"I get the fact that we have to have good relations — and we all want good relations — with our neighbor," Babeu said of Mexico.
"There shouldn't be this hostility," he said, "but secure your own border and fight the cartels stronger than what you are."
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