"It is unimaginable that terrorists could launch a prolonged attack on an urban target in a Western country and that police would not respond quickly enough to engage them at the scene."
It's not at all unimaginable. For two years I've been imagining far more serious attacks made possible by millions of unvetted illegals being turned loose in the USA. Just suppose a tiny percentage of them coalesced in a few urban areas with a plan and weapons. They could easily overextend available police resources. Mobilizing state and federal assets would take hours. I do not believe we are taking the lessons of September 11, 2001 seriously enough. We have fanatical enemies.
I used to worry about that, but it’s been 20+years since 9/11 and I’m not aware of a single attack tied to illegal border crossings despite numerous reports of crossers on terrorist watch lists. I think the reasons are that a) the border is heavily patrolled despite laws that mandate letting crossers stay in the country and b) there are much easier ways to enter the country than walking in from Mexico.
Even in small towns, I think local cops would respond quickly to a terrorist attack. We have learned to react quickly to spree shootings and a lot of small cities have tactical teams.
I support border security and immigration reform but the terror threat across the border has never materialized and seems overblown. The larger threat these days seems to be from homegrown radicals.
Complacency leads to casualties. Ask the Israelis. There are many illegals choosing to enter the USA by whatever means allows them to do so without any IDs, fingerprinting or DNA tests. I am not aware of mass casualties caused by domestic terrorism. Even the George Floyd canonization riots produced few murders. I know the FBI gaslights about right wing terrorists but that has not proven to be factual. It's just a matter of who is targeted by the current administration.
I hope massive terrorist attacks never happen, but my bet is we are not serious enough to prevent it.
"It is unimaginable that terrorists could launch a prolonged attack on an urban target in a Western country and that police would not respond quickly enough to engage them at the scene."
It's not at all unimaginable. For two years I've been imagining far more serious attacks made possible by millions of unvetted illegals being turned loose in the USA. Just suppose a tiny percentage of them coalesced in a few urban areas with a plan and weapons. They could easily overextend available police resources. Mobilizing state and federal assets would take hours. I do not believe we are taking the lessons of September 11, 2001 seriously enough. We have fanatical enemies.
I used to worry about that, but it’s been 20+years since 9/11 and I’m not aware of a single attack tied to illegal border crossings despite numerous reports of crossers on terrorist watch lists. I think the reasons are that a) the border is heavily patrolled despite laws that mandate letting crossers stay in the country and b) there are much easier ways to enter the country than walking in from Mexico.
Even in small towns, I think local cops would respond quickly to a terrorist attack. We have learned to react quickly to spree shootings and a lot of small cities have tactical teams.
I support border security and immigration reform but the terror threat across the border has never materialized and seems overblown. The larger threat these days seems to be from homegrown radicals.
Complacency leads to casualties. Ask the Israelis. There are many illegals choosing to enter the USA by whatever means allows them to do so without any IDs, fingerprinting or DNA tests. I am not aware of mass casualties caused by domestic terrorism. Even the George Floyd canonization riots produced few murders. I know the FBI gaslights about right wing terrorists but that has not proven to be factual. It's just a matter of who is targeted by the current administration.
I hope massive terrorist attacks never happen, but my bet is we are not serious enough to prevent it.
The thing about those on terror watch lists being caught at the border means that the border isn't open: on the contrary, it shows that it's working.
The Uvalde school massacre says otherwise about local cops.