Kash Patel and McCormick meet fentanyl victims’ families in Allentown
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – FBI Director Kash Patel warned Wednesday that terrorist sleeper cell threats in the United States are “real” as Sen. David McCormick, R-Pa., blamed the danger on past border policies and accused Democrats of undermining homeland security in the funding fight.
Considering concerns about sleeper cell threats that have flared during the U.S. war against Iran, Fox News Digital asked the FBI director to reconsider the Biden administration’s previous focus on white supremacy as the leading domestic threat. Patel pointed out that the latest attacks are evidence of the increasing danger from foreign-related terrorism.
“In doing so, President Trump has prioritized defending the homeland and resources. These last two tragic examples (in Virginia and Michigan), particularly in Norfolk, are an unfortunate, tragic reminder of what happens when you allow an actual convicted terrorist to not complete his prison sentence,” Patel said.
McCormick and Patel spoke to Fox News Digital following a roundtable discussion focused on the fight against fentanyl on Wednesday at the federal courthouse in the heart of Allentown, Pennsylvania’s third-largest city.
PHOTOS: ICE WELCOME DOX AGENTS SENDING WARNING POSTCARDS TO THEIR NEIGHBORS
EDPA U.S. Attorney David Metcalf, left; Senator David McCormick (center) and FBI Director Kash Patel (right) participate in a roundtable with prosecutors and fentanyl victims. Pennsylvania Attorney General David Sunday and Allentown Representative Ryan Mackenzie attended the meeting. (Charlie Creitz/Fox News Digital)
The FBI director was referring to Mohamed Jalloh, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Sierra Leone. entered a classroom Last month we opened fire and killed someone at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. Jalloh was convicted of supporting ISIS in 2017.
Also in March, federal investigators said Ayman Muhammad Ghazali was radicalized by Iran-backed Hezbollah after he allegedly crashed his vehicle into a synagogue filled with more than 100 children in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
McCormick noted that hundreds of people on the US terrorism watch list entered the country during the Biden administration.
“Most of them are strays in our country,” he said. “[T]The administration’s successful effort to close the border now continues [to] Take those violent criminals and send them home.”
Under the Biden administration, combating white supremacy as a terrorist threat was seen as a top priority. The Delaware Democrat himself told an audience at Howard University that he was trying to “identify the most dangerous threat to our homeland.” [that] It’s white supremacy.”
At a House Homeland Security subcommittee hearing in September 2024, Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, said 382 people whose names appeared on the terrorism watch list “were stopped from trying to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border between ports of entry from Fiscal Year 2021 through Fiscal Year 2024. This compared with 11 people apprehended from Fiscal Year 2017 through Fiscal Year 2020.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security, which is separate but related to the FBI’s work, remains crippled by a Democrat-influenced funding freeze that has left the TSA and other agencies without proper resources, including paychecks.
DEMOCRATIC OFFICIALS, TIKTOKERS, LIBERALS TAKE ANTI-ICE DISCOURSE TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Patel called the department the FBI’s largest law enforcement partner worldwide and cited key interagency task forces.
“Every day and always someone [in DHS] “An individual missing a paycheck is another opportunity for criminals to take advantage of a system that should be easily fixed,” Patel said.
“And thanks to Senator Dave McCormick and the charge he’s leading, I believe DHS will be funded. And those who vote against funding DHS are literally voting against law enforcement, and to me that means nothing.”
THE LOWER LEFT NETWORK WHO HELPED ALEX PRETTI HIM, THEN MADE HIM A MARTYR
McCormick added that the shutdown was already “irresponsible and shameful” in February, but has now been made worse by the Iran conflict.
“This is pure political theater on Chuck Schumer’s part,” he said, calling the idea that Democrats would use DHS funding as a “political pawn” during wartime “inexcusable.”
The shutdown is in its 49th day as of Friday, and according to reports, more than 200,000 DHS employees have been affected.
CLICK TO REACH THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
“What’s happening is Schumer continues to push himself over the finish line in terms of what he’s trying to accomplish. I think it’s a shame,” McCormick said.
