Does the Migrant Caravan Pose a Terrorism Risk?

Yesterday, President Trumptweeted that “unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in” with themigrant caravan approaching the U.S. border. Vice President Pencelater tried to justify President Trump ’s comment by arguing that, “It is inconvincible that there are not people of Middle Eastern descent in a crowd of more than 7,000 people advancing toward our border.” Todd Bensman of the Center for Immigration Studieswrote that  “the president was obviously referencing … ‘special interest aliens’ … U.S.-bound migrants moving along well-established Latin America smuggling routes from [Muslim] countries.” Perhaps President Trump was referencing special interest aliens but the clear implication is that they are p otential terrorists who are using the caravan to sneak into the United States and murder Americans.  The members of the migrant caravan will either apply for asylum at the U.S. border or try to enter illegally. From 1975 through the end of 2017, 9 Americans have been murdered in attacks committed on U.S. soil by 20 foreign-born terrorists who entered illegally or as asylees. During that time, the annual chance of being murdered in a terrorist attack committed by an asylum seeker or an illegal immigrant was about 1 in 1.3 billion per year. Those estimates are based onthis methodology with updated numbers.  During that time, about 31.3 million illegal immigrants entered the U.S. illegally (most have since emigrated, legalized, or passed away) and about 732 ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs