tippinsights Editorial Board, TIPP Insights

Blinder Than the Blind Eye—This Is the Media’s Desire.

While the liberal media aggressively covers Trump administration deportation actions – including non-stop reporting on Venezuelan deportees against Washington Chief Judge James Boasberg’s orders – the press is blatantly omitting to inform its audience about the importance of vetting immigrants.

On March 21, a reporter and President Trump had this exchange at the Oval Office:

Reporter: Do you think you have the authority, the power to round up people, deport them, and then you’re under no obligation to a court to show the evidence against them?

Trump: That’s what the law says, and that’s what our country needs because.. unfortunately, they allowed us to go totally unchecked, so you ought to ask, did he have the authority to? Millions of people.

Did Biden have the authority to do something that’s unthinkable, have open borders where millions of people poured into our country totally unvetted and totally unchecked, just as you would say? And many of those people were criminals.

Many of them were from jails and prisons and mental institutions and gang members. And very dangerous people. Many were murderers. We have 11,088 that we know of murders they’ve murdered. Of that number, at least half killed more than one person. They’re in our country. They’re in a location near you….So when you ask me if we have the authority, did Biden have the authority to allow millions of people to come into our country, many of these people hardened criminals?”

Trump’s point is crucial, a fact that the media willfully ignores. Biden was criminally negligent in allowing foreigners into the United States without proper vetting, and the media never raised red flags about his actions. Now, Trump is doing the heavy lifting needed to find these criminal aliens and attempting to deport them, and the entire Deep State, including judges like Judge Boasberg, finds his actions unlawful. It smacks of hypocrisy and a lack of civic responsibility at every level.

Besides, vetting foreigners before allowing them into the country is not a new practice. For decades, it has been standard protocol for the State Department to vet applicants when they apply for a visa, although the degree of vetting depends upon the benefit sought. The vetting for someone applying for a tourist visa is far less strict than for someone seeking a Green Card. The process helps ensure national security, public safety, and compliance with immigration laws.

Granting a visa permits a beneficiary to board a plane or vessel bound for America – but agents of the Customs and Immigration Service of the Department of Homeland Security grant final permission to enter the United States. Once a beneficiary is admitted, it is almost impossible for the government to track their activities – America, a leader in upholding democratic values, does not believe in operating a surveillance state.

If a beneficiary is known to have overstayed a visa or committed a crime, the government can begin deportation proceedings through the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The Left hates ICE. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who is now receiving wall-to-wall coverage as Sen. Bernie Sanders’s sidekick at campaign-style appearances, became a prominent voice in 2018, calling for ICE’s abolition during her Congressional campaign. In an interview with The Intercept, AOC said: “We need to start from scratch and create an immigration system that is humane and prioritizes families.” She and other progressives proposed replacing ICE with agencies focused on humanitarian immigration processing.

Such thinking has brought profound danger to America. When, under the Biden administration, more than 18 million illegal aliens entered the country without any vetting whatsoever, and local leaders like Mayor Wu in Boston run sanctuary cities by restricting cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE, Americans are forced to live among and accommodate dangerous criminals, although the majority of immigrants, both legal and illegal, may be law-abiding.

The dangers of insufficient vetting were brought into focus even earlier – during the Obama administration. On a routine morning in San Bernardino on December 2, 2015, a young, married couple – Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik – carried out a terrorist attack, killing 14 people and injuring 22 others. They used legally purchased AR-15-style rifles and handguns, and, wearing tactical gear, they opened fire, storming a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center.

Farook, 28, male, was a U.S.-born citizen of Pakistani descent, while Malik, 27 or 29 (age varies by source), was a Pakistani national who had lived in Saudi Arabia before entering the U.S. on a K-1 fiancée visa in 2014. They met online, married in Saudi Arabia, and settled in California, where they had a six-month-old daughter.

When Malik applied for her K-1 visa in Islamabad, she went through the standard vetting procedures consistent with the benefit that she was seeking—settling down in the United States as the future wife of an American citizen. Her name, birth date, and other biographic data were screened against U.S. databases like the Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS), Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB), and Interpol records. She provided fingerprints and photographs, which were checked against DHS and FBI systems for criminal or terrorist links. A consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad interviewed her to verify her relationship with Farook and intent to marry, assessing for fraud or inconsistencies. She submitted a Pakistani passport, birth certificate, and evidence of her engagement to Farook.

Yet, after the attack, it became clear that the Obama administration missed numerous opportunities to flag her as potentially dangerous. U.S. officials did not systematically review her social media posts as part of vetting. Malik reportedly expressed extremist views online before applying, including private messages praising jihad and martyrdom, according to FBI findings post-attack. Malik lived most of her formative years in Saudi Arabia (roughly 1989–2007) before returning to Pakistan to attend college. Her father, in Saudi Arabia, had moved to practice Wahhabi Islam, and Malik had been raised in that environment, potentially becoming radicalized. The government missed out on this part of her life history entirely.

After then-Obama DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson admitted in 2016 that social media screening is an excellent tool, it became standard practice and is now routinely used at embassies and consulates around the world to vet incoming foreigners.

Vetting is a crucial first step in protecting Americans in America. The Biden administration ignored vetting when it let millions of illegals into the country. The media irresponsibly ignored Biden’s criminal conduct. Trump is right to point these out and correct the mistakes of the last four years through aggressive ICE enforcement.

Why send our children to journalism school when objectivity is no longer part of the curriculum?