The United States must strengthen the enforcement of its immigration list if it wants to stay safe and not have to confront the terrorism issues now embroiling Europe, Michael Cutler, a former Immigration and Naturalization Service special agent, tells
Newsmax TV.
"What I would suggest is this: you know Donald Trump said let's keep the Muslims out. That's not going to work. Even if you wanted to do it, and it's a bad optic [because there's] America's First Amendment," Cutler said Friday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
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"People are going to run the border and get here anyway, but what you should be doing is ramping up the interior enforcement of the immigration list. Ted Cruz talked about law enforcement. No one talks about [that].
"Any state with an international airport which lies along either the norther or southern borders are Border States. Enforce the law from within the interior."
That means intensive background checks on all those trying to get in.
"Look for the people who are violating immigration laws, people who lie on applications or get married for money," Cutler said.
"That's the way the terrorists embed themselves and if you focus on the aliens who come from countries that sponsor terrorism, you will do two things: either deport them or under certain control circumstances give them the opportunity to become informants.
"That's how you develop the intelligence and they will help you identify the people who are threats."
But is there enough manpower to do the job?
"Take agents from the FBI, DEA [and] ATF, move them over to immigration enforcement activities," Cutler said.
"I want anybody who's illegally present in the United States to not be able to go to sleep at night confident that they won't be arrested the next day. That's called deterrence. Let's enforce the law, let's create deterrence through enforcement."