Dem Rep. on Possible ISIS Affiliates Crossing Border: Threat’s Overstated, They’d Be Dumb to Seek Asylum, Were Caught

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) reacted to reports of the arrest of eight foreign nationals with possible ISIS ties who had crossed over the border by stating that terrorists coming over the border is “a danger. It’s a danger that my Republican friends like to play up, even though, in 30 years, there has not been a single terrorist fatality engineered by an undocumented alien.” And that it would be pretty stupid for terrorists to seek asylum like these individuals did.

Host Erin Burnett asked, “Those eight Tajik nationals with ISIS ties — suspected — were arrested in multiple U.S. cities. They all had come in over the U.S. southern border. The former CIA Director, Leon Panetta, told us that this is a 9/11 wake-up call. Is that how you see it from your briefings or no?”

Himes responded, “Well, it’s certainly true. I mean, people are using a lot of bombastic language. Before 9/11, we had just all sorts of barriers to intelligence-sharing. We weren’t focused on what we should have been focused on. That’s not true anymore. That doesn’t mean we’re not at risk. And I think, again, there’s a lot of hyperbolic language out there. As it turns out, we arrested those Tajiks with ties to ISIS, and we have not had a major terrorist attack in this country in a very, very long time. So, that doesn’t mean that we let our [guard] down, of course not. And having people without — whose identity we don’t know inside the country is concerning –.”

Burnett then cut in to ask, “Are you worried that there are a lot more of them that came over the southern border though, a lot more people with that wish to do the U.S. harm?”

Himes answered, “Well, yeah, I mean, look, these people presented themselves seeking asylum, right? If you’re a terrorist, that’s a really dumb thing to [do] because we’re going to take a picture of you, we’re going to look into you, etc. So, yes, of course, it’s a danger. It’s a danger that my Republican friends like to play up, even though, in 30 years, there has not been a single terrorist fatality engineered by an undocumented alien. That doesn’t mean that we don’t worry about it. But again, we’ve got to keep this in perspective.”

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