> By almost any significant metric, this is not America’s finest hour. We do not appear to be respected or feared economically, militarily, or in any other way by rival nations. Americans do not feel confident about the future, and we are seemingly more polarized along partisan lines than ever before. > Adding to our collective sense of dread is the sight of our nation’s geographic integrity slipping away. Almost daily we see untold numbers of foreign nationals trampling what used to be our southern border, demanding rights and privileges that previously were reserved for citizens and legal residents. ---------------- > In the time since Joe Biden took the oath of office, at least 5.5 million foreign nationals have illegally entered our country. Very few of them will likely ever leave. Sanctuary politicians can recite bumper sticker slogans like “immigrants make our communities stronger,” but the $150 billion price tag for illegal immigration is a net loss for the country. That doesn’t even take into consideration the losses we will experience in terms of higher crime, increased competition for jobs, lower wages, and increasing housing costs, to name just a few. > As word has spread about America’s current abandonment of border security, the rest of the world has taken notice. As a result, more than one-third of those apprehended by the Border Patrol at the Southwest border in the first three months of the last fiscal year were from countries outside Mexico and the Northern Triangle. > At a time when America seems more vulnerable than ever, a growing number of border crossers are coming from countries that either are competitors or sworn enemies of the United States. This past fiscal year, a record 98 illegal aliens on the terror watch list were able to enter the United States illegally. Additionally, there has been a 600 percent increase in illegal aliens who come from countries with thriving terrorist networks.