Former UN ambassador John Bolton believes the impact of Europe’s ongoing migrant crisis on America is “huge” and is one of the reasons why national security “has got to be at the center of the 2016 debate” because, as he pointed out, “It’s only a matter of time before some of those terrorists get to the United States.”

Bolton told Breitbart News Daily host Stephen K. Bannon: “Let’s be clear, once these refugees get to Europe, they’re merely a plane ride away from the United States, and the threat of terrorism that we know has come with what may be legitimate refugees but a lot of other people seeking to exploit the breakdown of border controls across the European Union to get into the continent and then carry out attacks down the road. It’s only a matter of time before some of those terrorists get to the United States. … What we’re seeing in Europe could well be a precursor to what we’re going to see here if the Europeans don’t get their act together.”

Citing Europe as “a source of American culture and political thought and an enormously important economic partner,” Bolton said that if “Europe declines even further than it has, and I’m one that thinks the European Union has made Europe less than the sum of its parts, but if it shows increasing incapacity to deal with these problems, that is harmful to the United States.”

Bolton also sees the crisis getting worse and potentially resulting in Britain opting out of the EU in a coming referendum. He said, “I think it’s getting worse in part because of the massive flows of people who have already entered on the continent of Europe out of Turkey or through other means. And it’s going to get worse in the coming months, in the  spring and the summer as the sailing season across the Mediterranean opens up, and so you have flows of people from all across North Africa, not just from Syria and Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. And I still think we’re seeing a complete breakdown of the capability of the European Union to deal with this. It was a breakdown when Chancellor Merkel first invited in 800,000 refugees. That total is now over a million and a half.”

Bolton also pointed out that smaller countries like Macedonia are not getting any assistance from the larger EU countries. He feels that will have a ripple effect leading to more and more countries opting to close their borders.

“The real touchstone here on the effect of all this on the British referendum in June on whether to remain in the European Union  at all,” he noted. “I think watching what they’re seeing in Europe is going to contribute to a ‘leave’ vote that might actually prevail.”

As regards what America’s response should be, Bolton seemed very clear. “The American people are very humanitarian,” he said. “When they see refugees, they want to give them food and shelter in refugee camps so that they’re not displaced and simply living out in the open. That is the first response to a refugee crisis. The first response is not, bring them all into your country and give them asylum because, let’s be clear, the grant of asylum, while it’s supposed to be temporary, often turns into permanent resident status. And before you make that decision, you have to know who you are admitting. It’s not contrary to our humanitarian instincts to say, yes, we’d like to know what the background of these people [is].”

Bolton also said that he doesn’t believe destroying ISIS is a priority for Obama and noted that “what that means is, innocent civilians in this country and across Europe are in danger as long as ISIS, or other terrorist groups, as long as they’re privileged sanctuaries remain immune.”

You can listen to the full interview below:

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