When it comes to our open borders, the lies never end.
Even on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, government spokesmen continue to lie. On Thursday, the president's press secretary, Josh Earnest, said we need not worry about such things. The Bloomberg News headline read: "Earnest discounts Islamic State threat on Mexican border." This lie was necessary because a government agency had issued an alert about known terror cells operating in Ciudad Juarez, which adjoins El Paso, Texas.
Will we all sleep better tonight after that Obama administration assurance? It's hard to know whether to laugh or cry at such bewildering nonsense. If they believe it, they are criminally insane. If not, they are criminals of a different sort. Some people not only can't "connect the dots," they don't even recognize a dot when they see one.
Using only official Border Patrol data on border crossings, we know a problem exists on our southwest border with Mexico. In fact, everyone knows that except the Obama White House. That problem has existed for decades, and the numbers are available to the White House press office if they care to inquire.
While the attention of our news media has been focused on the 57,000 "UACs," or Unaccompanied Children, apprehended by the Border Patrol – and then released to families and "sponsors" inside our country – we have seemingly forgotten some other numbers.
In 2013 alone, there were not 57,000 but a total of over 75,000 "OTMs" – Other Than Mexican – apprehended on the border. Of that number, over 1,200 were individuals from countries known by our government to harbor terrorist cells. Those countries include Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Indonesia.
Now, there is something else Americans need to know besides those official numbers. Americans need to know that even the Border Patrol and the U.S. Congress do not believe the numbers are accurate. There is another very important number Josh Earnest and other Obama administration officials would undoubtedly lie about if they ever had the opportunity. That is the Border Patrol's "Gotaway Rate."
Until very recently and throughout the history of the U.S. Border Patrol since its inception in 1922, the weekly reports from its field offices included not only the number of apprehensions in the sector but also the estimated "Gotaways." That is the number of illegal border crossers spotted and counted but not apprehended. The ratio of the number of Gotaways to the number of apprehensions was called the Gotaway Rate. The Gotaway Rate would naturally vary between sectors and also vary over time, but veteran Border Patrol officers have testified that the ratio was usually 3-to-1 and often much higher.
What that means is that the official number of apprehensions on the border, a number published by the government on a monthly basis, is only a very rough indication of the level of border crossings, not an accurate measure by itself.
And by the way, you will be comforted to learn that the Obama administration recently fixed that problem by abolishing the "Gotaway Rate." That estimate is no longer being collected by Border Patrol field offices. Gotaways still exist, but we no longer count them or report them.
In the fiscal year 2013, the official apprehension number was 420,789, up by 28 percent from a low point of 340,252 in 2011. If the Gotaway Rate was 3-to-1, that means that while the Border Patrol was catching and then processing 420,789 individuals, three times that number – or over 1,200,000 individuals – were evading capture and successfully entering the county. Even if we cut that number in half to allow for double counting in the official apprehension number, that is still over a half a million successful border crossings in 2013 alone.
That also means the number of OTMs from countries with terrorist cells was possibly three times as larger than the official number of 1,200. This does not mean that 3,000 terrorists came across the southwest border last year, but it does mean this: Among the house painters and peach harvesters and landscape workers, since the terrorist attacks of 2001, over 30,000 persons from countries that harbor terrorists and whose identities we do not know have come across our land borders.
These numbers do not include the tens of thousands of persons who enter our country by air travel with valid visas and then disappear. The Department of Homeland Security recently admitted it has lost track of 6,000 foreign students who entered on student visas. Over 58,000 of the 1.2 million foreign students in the country have overstayed their visas, and 6,000 seem to be "missing." Since 2001, 26 student visa holders have been arrested on terror-related charges.
To most Americans, such numbers are worrisome, even frightening. But to the Obama White House, they are no cause for concern. That should be even more frightening.
Media wishing to interview Tom Tancredo, please contact [email protected].
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