ENLIST Act (HR 60) Poses a Threat to National Security and Public Safety

The ENLIST Act (HR 60), currently under consideration by Congress, would provide illegal aliens with the opportunity to enlist in America’s armed forces and be placed on the pathway to lawful immigrant status. (The term “ENLIST” is an acronym for “Encourage New Legalized Immigrants to Start Training.”)

To some, this may seem like a reasonable way to address the plight of some of the unknown millions of illegal aliens who are present in the United States, providing them with the opportunity to acquire lawful status in exchange for serving America in one of the most noble and patriotic ways.

However, time and time again, we have seen where multiple failures of the immigration system enabled terrorists and criminal aliens to commit immigration fraud and otherwise game the immigration system and other systems to carry out deadly attacks in the U.S. In point of fact, the 9/11 Commission, to which I provided testimony, made it clear that the failures of the immigration system repeatedly enabled terrorists to enter the U.S. and embed themselves as they went about their deadly preparations.

It has been said, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Unbelievably, HR 60 currently has more than 200 cosponsors from both parties.

While all too many politicians may be hell-bent on dismantling our nation’s borders and obstructing the enforcement of our immigration laws, incredibly, even members of Congress who have been supportive of effective immigration law enforcement have decided to cosponsor this deadly bill, perhaps motivated by a desire to be compassionate.

Frankly, they are being naive; suicide is not an act of compassion.

Consider that recently “Two Alleged Hezbollah Jihadists Arrested in U.S.” were charged with acting as “sleeper” agents who had traveled around the world to commit overt acts in support of Hezbollah that are enumerated in the federal complaints filed on May 31, 2017, concerning Lebanese born Samer el Debek, a/k/a Samer Eldebek and Ali Mohamad Kourani, a/k/a Jacob Lewis, a/k/a Daniel.

I discussed this issue and related issues during my June 16, 2017, appearance on Newsmax-TV’s program, America Talks Live.

Immigration (naturalization) was the key to their terrorist activities and to activities of other terrorists. In fact, according to statements that these two alleged terrorists provided, their Hezbollah “handlers” made it clear that obtaining U.S. citizenship and the U.S. passports (which they did obtain) was essential to their ability to travel freely around the world and conduct surveillance of U.S. and Israeli facilities and officials and carry out other acts.

These defendants are being charged with a number of serious crimes, including traveling to the Middle East to acquire military training in heavy weapons. They also conducted surveillance of military bases, law enforcement facilities and U.S. airports.

The ENLIST Act would provide similar training on U.S. military bases to illegal aliens who entered the United States covertly. Consequently their true identities, backgrounds and entry data could not be verified for the great majority of these aliens.

Time and again we have seen deadly “insider” attacks carried out by terrorists who enlist in the military in the Middle East to gain access to U.S. bases to carry out deadly attacks.

On April 22, 2017, The New York Times reported, “‘A Shortage of Coffins’ After Taliban Slaughter Unarmed Soldiers.”

On June 17, 2017, CBS reported, “At least 7 U.S. soldiers wounded after Afghan soldier opens fire.” That article ended with this sentence:

“Last week, three U.S. soldiers were killed by an Afghan soldier in eastern Nangarhar province. In that case Mujahid claimed that the shooter was a Taliban loyalist who infiltrated the army specifically to seek out opportunities to attack foreign soldiers.”

Recently, two hearings were conducted by the House and Senate on MS-13, one of the most violent and pernicious of all transnational gangs operating in the U.S.

On June 20, 2017, the House Homeland Security Committee, Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence conducted a hearing on the topic, Combating Gang Violence On Long Island: Shutting Down The MS-13 Pipeline.

That “pipeline” crosses the U.S.-Mexican border.

One of the key “takeaways” is that since 2014, with the surge of unaccompanied minors from Central America’s Northern Triangle Countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras under the Obama administration, MS-13 has grown exponentially in size, sophistication and therefore the threats it poses to America. The most disconcerting recruiting tactic for MS-13 includes gang members using extreme violence to recruit new members in public schools.

On June 21, 2017, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on “The MS-13 Problem: Investigating Gang Membership, its Nexus to Illegal Immigration, and Federal Efforts to End the Threat.”

It is important to read the Judiciary Committee Chairman, Senator Chuck Grassley’s statement for that hearing and watch the video.

The 2015 National Gang Report prepared by the National Gang Intelligence Center included this troubling statement on page 33:

“Military-trained gang members pose a serious threat to law enforcement and to the public. They learn combat tactics in the military, then return home to utilize these new skills against rival gangs or law enforcement. Military training of individual gang members could ultimately result in more sophisticated and deadly gangs, as well as deadly assaults on law enforcement officers.”

In 2014 a similar bill with the same title failed to pass. Recycling waste may be good for the environment, but recycling bad legislation, such as HR 60, would be catastrophic for national security and public safety.

Please go here to contact your representative to oppose HR 60.