REP. BRAD KNOTT: Biden Enabled Iran To Establish Sleeper Cells, But We Can Still Destroy Them

 

Following U.S. military strikes targeting the Iranian regime’s nuclear sites, Iran responded with largely symbolic and docile missile attacks aimed at one of our military bases. 

The world’s largest state-sponsor of terror and committed anti-U.S. regime had a similar response in 2020 when President Donald Trump ordered the elimination of top Iranian Officer Qasem Soleimani. Again, the response was largely symbolic. 

While we cannot tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran, they are not likely to seek outright war with the United States. With a disgruntled and oppressed population, U.S. allies surrounding them, and a strong U.S. military — the Ayatollah would surely lose.

Still, Iran has another strategy to which we must remain vigilant: sleeper cells in the U.S. waiting to activate with hostility from within our borders. 

It’s happened before. Our intelligence community believes assassination attempts against former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former National Security Advisor John Bolton were Iran’s preferred means of avenging Soleimani. 

Under the Biden-Harris administration, the Department of Homeland Security issued a threat assessment saying, “Iran relies on individuals with pre-existing access to the United States for surveillance and lethal plotting…”

Law enforcement caught more than 1,500 Iranians at the southern border under the previous administration, yet despite the warning about sleeper cells from their own agency, the Biden-Harris-Mayorkas administration released nearly half of them into the country. While alarming, these statistics only reveal a small fraction of the risk we face. The most dangerous covert Iranian agents would most likely evade capture, i.e., they would be part of the millions of “gotaways” that Biden let into our country. Therefore, the threat within our communities today is far greater than it was when the Biden DHS issued its assessment. 

No rational, serious immigration system would allow droves of immigrants from hostile and adversarial nations to enter the country without even the slightest vetting. Unfortunately, over the past four years, the United States did not have a rational, serious immigration system. Not only did the previous administration fail to vet millions of illegal entrants; we know now that Border Patrol was specifically ordered to leave certain portions of the Southern Border unguarded and vulnerable. I saw it. You saw it. We can be certain the Iranian regime saw it and exploited it. 

President Trump has made great strides in securing the border and beginning to reverse the negative effects of the Biden-Harris years. Clearly, President Trump’s leadership has put a damper on Iran’s plans for more overt aggression and military strategy. During last year’s presidential campaign, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard plotted to activate sleeper cells in the U.S. to assassinate President Trump to prevent him from returning to the White House. Afraid to face a strong America head on, we can expect Iran to rely more on their agents here. 

According to the latest DHS Homeland Threat Assessment, now under the leadership of Secretary Kristi Noem, Iran is likely to continue its efforts to advance plots against individuals, including current and former U.S. officials, on our home soil. 

As the White House issues warnings regarding sleeper cells, all branches of government must act quickly and work cohesively to undo the damage of the previous administration’s intentionally weak border security. 

By passing both the One Big Beautiful Bill, which increases support for border security and infrastructure, and the Stop Illegal Entry Act, which targets and punishes criminal illegal immigrants, we can make lasting changes that will frustrate the future efforts of open-borders politicians and hostile foreign regimes. 

As the administration carries out operations combatting sleeper cells, the American people can do their part. If you see something suspicious, report it to DHS through your local tipline. If there was ever a time to set aside political differences and unite as a nation, it’s now. 

Through President Trump’s strong leadership and unified efforts from law enforcement and private citizens, we can and must repel threats to our homeland from our enemies inside our own borders.