The threat of terrorism may be as close to home as the U.S.-Mexico border, where people from 150 different countries have been crossing, unvetted, into the United States, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton warned on Newsmax Thursday after the deadly terrorist bombing at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan.
"We don't vet them; we don't know what they're doing," Paxton said on Newsmax's "American Agenda."
"We don't know what their purpose is. We just let them in, and then, secretly, the federal government moves them around the country."
And that, said Paxton, is "exactly how" terrorists would create a nationwide network.
"We already have over 200,000 people a month who are now crossing our border," said Paxton. "That's the ones we know about. Those are the ones that turn themselves in."
And when you add in the situation in Afghanistan, where several U.S. Marines were among the dead after two terrorist bombings near the airport, where thousands are trying to flee Afghanistan, Paxton said he's "shocked" at what has happened.
"I've never seen anything like this, other than maybe when I was young, when Iran was taken over and we had hostages," said Paxton. "Obviously, (Ronald) Reagan came in and solved that problem."
The situation in Afghanistan, following the rapid takeover by the Taliban, is "one of the worst events I think in my lifetime, in American history and I'm I'm just shocked that this wasn't planned better."
The Biden administration didn't leave enough troops in Afghanistan to make sure that Americans and allies were able to get out, he added, "and now, we're not only losing those people, potentially losing workers, right now we're losing our own military forces."
Meanwhile, at the border, it's "business as usual" for the Biden administration, and Afghanistan hasn't changed anything about that, said Paxton, especially considering Afghan refugees are being brought into the United States directly.
"It's an open border," he said. "If you want to come in as a terrorist, it's pretty easy right now."
He also said he doesn't have any confidence in the vetting process underway for the refugees.
"I've seen enough of the Biden administration," said Paxton. "Whether we're looking at Afghanistan or the border or what's going on with inflation, I don't have confidence in his ability to do the simplest of things. If you can't protect our citizens and get them out of Afghanistan after 20 years, how do I know that you're doing a good job with bringing in Afghans that we know nothing about?"
Paxton on Thursday also talked about the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Trump-era remain in Mexico policy.
"It should help us immensely," said Paxton. "The court has now ordered (Biden) to follow federal law, which he refused to follow that policy that was implemented by President Trump. It was immensely successful in reducing the number of people coming across the border."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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