L'affirmation faite par Trump sur les terroristes qui traversent la frontière sud manque de preuves substantielles.
En parlant de la frontière sud des États-Unis, Trump a déclaré que "plus de terroristes ont pénétré aux États-Unis au cours des trois dernières années. Et je soupçonne que cela pourrait être le cas depuis plus de 50 ans."
À l'approche du 23ème anniversaire des tragédies du 11 septembre, cette déclaration semble étrange étant donné que les 19 hijackeurs arabes, aucun d'entre eux n'ayant traversé illégalement la frontière sud des États-Unis, ont causé la mort de presque 3 000 personnes, la plupart d'entre elles se trouvant dans la ville de Trump, New York.
Si l'affirmation de Trump selon laquelle des terroristes jihadistes inondaient les États-Unis par la frontière sud au cours des trois dernières années était vraie, n'aurions-nous pas assisté à des attaques terroristes sur le sol américain ? Ou, à tout le moins, une augmentation du nombre de terroristes appréhendés aux États-Unis pendant cette période ?
En réalité, il n'y a eu aucune attaque terroriste rapportée aux États-Unis par des terroristes jihadistes ayant traversé la frontière sud au cours des trois dernières années.
En fait, la dernière attaque terroriste mortelle perpétrée par un terroriste jihadiste a eu lieu pendant que Trump était en fonction en 2019. Un officier militaire saoudien a causé la mort de trois marins américains à la base aéronavale de Pensacola, en Floride, et était entré aux États-Unis légalement dans le cadre d'un programme de formation du Pentagone.
D'un autre côté, au cours des trois dernières années, 22 personnes ont été tuées aux États-Unis par des terroristes domestiques d'extrême droite dans des lieux tels que Buffalo, New York, et Allen, Texas, selon les données recueillies par New America, un institut de recherche (où je suis vice-président).
Trump a tendance à rester silencieux lorsque des terroristes domestiques d'extrême droite commettent des violences aux États-Unis.
During the Fox town hall, Trump also claimed that there had been no instances of "radical Islamic terror" while he was in office. However, the Pensacola terrorist attack occurred while Trump was in power, and an ISIS-inspired terrorist carried out an attack in Manhattan in 2017, killing eight people using a truck as a weapon.
The so-called "terrorists crossing the southern border" narrative is a revised version of Trump's call for a Muslim ban during the 2016 election campaign. It merged American fears of immigration with their fears of terrorism, a fear that remained prominent in many Americans' minds following the 9/11 attacks.
It's worth noting that there are valid concerns about the southern border. For example, as reported by CNN in June, eight Tajikistan nationals who had crossed the southern border were arrested on immigration charges following potential ties to terrorism, possibly linked to ISIS. However, there was no evidence that these individuals were planning a terrorist attack.
Also, FBI director Christopher Wray testified before the US Senate Judiciary Committee last year that "we are in a heightened threat environment due to foreign terrorist organizations, and their ability to exploit any port of entry, including our southwest border... We have seen an increase in so-called KSTs, ‘known or suspected terrorists,’ attempting to cross over the last five years."
According to the US Customs and Border Protection's most recent statistics, there have been 43 encounters with individuals on the terrorism watchlist on the southern border so far in 2024. Additionally, Customs and Border Protection had 281 encounters with people on the terrorism watchlist on the US border with Canada, despite six times more people on the terrorism watchlist attempting to cross the Canadian border this year.
Being on the terrorism watchlist doesn't necessarily mean that someone is a terrorist; CBS News reported that there are around two million people on the list.
Trump's assertion that "more terrorists have entered the United States in the past three years. And I suspect possibly over 50 years" and his claim that there was no Islamist terrorism in the US during his four-year term are quite far from the truth. However, given past trends, it's likely that Trump will continue to make similar claims during the final weeks of the election campaign.
Despite the 9/11 tragedies being linked to 19 hijackers who entered the US legally, not illegally through the southern border, the topic of politics often brings up concerns about border security. In recent years, there have been encounters with individuals on the terrorism watchlist at the US-Mexico border, as reported by Customs and Border Protection.
