Jihadists at the Gate: U.S. Open Border Policy and the Security Crisis

At a time when the American southern border has collapsed under the weight of an historic mass migration event, the threat of immigrants hailing from the Middle East is rarely considered. In this interview (video) with Irina Tsukerman, Todd Bensman explores how this demographic elevates the terrorism threat. They also discuss a recent FBI/DOJ terrorism prosecution of a plot to bring terrorist operatives over the faltering U.S. southern border.

Todd Bensman is a fellow at the Middle East Forum and a senior national security fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies. He previously led counterterrorism-related intelligence efforts for the Texas Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division. Irina Tsukerman is a human rights lawyer, geopolitical analyst, President of Scarab Rising, Inc., & Editor in Chief of The Washington Outsider.

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Counter-terrorism Immigration Islam Muslims in the United States Muslims in the West Radical Islam Terrorism US Policy US Politics Criminality

Todd Bensman

Todd Bensman is an editorialist, media commentator, and investigative author who served as a senior adviser to border czar Tom Homan and the Office of the Director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and held an assignment at the National Counterterrorism Center (2025–2026). He currently serves as a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center. From 2009 to 2018, Bensman worked as a manager and analyst for the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division, where he led counterterrorism intelligence efforts. From 2018 to 2025, he served as a senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies. During that period, he authored Overrun: How Joe Biden Unleashed the Greatest Border Crisis in U.S. History (Bombardier Books, 2023) and America’s Covert Border War: The Untold Story of the Nation’s Battle to Prevent Jihadist Infiltration (Bombardier Books, 2021). Previously a newspaper reporter for 23 years, Bensman is a two-time National Press Club award winner for foreign reporting and has worked in more than 40 countries. He has testified before Congress as an expert witness and regularly appears on radio and television to discuss national security, illegal immigration, and border security.

Irina Tsukerman