Amid growing concerns about terrorist threats to the United States, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz blamed former President Joe Biden for potentially enabling domestic and foreign terrorism during his four years in office.
Speaking with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, Cruz ripped the Biden administration for having “open borders.” The House Committee on Homeland Security announced in October 2024 that Border Patrol had recorded nearly 11 million encounters nationwide beginning with the 2021 fiscal year.
Cruz said he believes that the threat of a terror attack is the highest in decades. There has not been a major foreign terrorist attack on United States soil since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
“We had 12 million people flood across the border,” Cruz said. “Basically an open invitation to every terrorist, every Hamas and Hezbollah and [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] terrorist, ‘Come to America, to California.”
Ted Cruz: “As we sit here right now tonight, the threat of terrorist attack is higher now than it has been for decades. There’s two causes of it. Number one, Joe Biden … ” pic.twitter.com/WI08sR19II
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 12, 2026
Biden had not responded to Cruz as of Thursday afternoon. Cruz’s comments came hours after President Donald Trump made similar remarks to reporters regarding the possibility of Iranian sleeper cells.
“A lot of people came in through Biden with his stupid open border, but we know where most of them are,” the president said. “We got our eye on all of them, I think.”
Trump on Iranian sleeper cells in the US: “We know where most are. We have our eyes on all of them, I think — They came in under sleepy Joe Biden, the worst president in the history of our country!”
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 12, 2026
The United States has dealt with numerous terror-related situations over the last week. Pennsylvania residents Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, were arrested following an attempted terrorist attack in New York City last Saturday. The two told New York Police Department officials that they watched ISIS videos, and one of the two pledged allegiance to ISIS when speaking with officers.
The two teenagers threw improvised explosive devices (IEDs) during a protest outside Gracie Mansion in Manhattan. Balat and Kayumi face several charges, including attempted material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization (ISIS), use of a weapon of mass destruction, transportation of explosive materials, interstate transportation, receipt of explosives, and unlawful possession of destructive devices.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke on Wednesday regarding a leaked FBI memo where the government warned California law enforcement about the possibility of Iranian drone strikes. The United States and Israel began joint military attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, and they have continued over the last 12 days.
Although they were not considered terrorist threats at publication, there were also two active shooting situations — one in Virginia and one in Michigan — on Thursday. A shooter at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., shot and injured two ROTC members before he died. A suspect who drove his truck into Temple Israel, a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, died after engaging in gunfire with a security guard.
