Klobuchar Wants Anti-Terror Money. She Should Start at the Border.

But listen carefully: she never said 'border enforcement.' She never said 'visa overstays.' She never said 'enforce the immigration laws already on the books.' That omission is the whole story.

The last time Washington responded to a devastating terrorist attack with a spending spree instead of immigration enforcement, it ended badly. After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Congress and the president rushed to expand counterterrorism budgets. New agencies, new surveillance programs, new checkpoints.

But they left the immigration system largely untouched. Two of the bombers had overstayed their visas. Others had a long record of immigration violations. Politicians talked tough, but no one wanted to upset the open-borders coalition.

So the vulnerabilities remained. Eight years later, 9/11.

The lesson is that spending alone is not security. When a politician offers you a check for anti-terrorism while refusing to secure the border, she is selling the appearance of safety and leaving the door open. Klobuchar's proposal is that old evasion in new packaging. She wants the national security headlines, but she cannot afford to say 'enforce the law at the border' because her political base would revolt.

So she gives a speech about funding instead of policy.

Some will insist that this time is different. They will say the real threats are domestic radicals and cyberattacks, not people crossing the border. But that is a convenient story. Border Patrol agents still catch people on the terror watchlist trying to enter illegally every month.

And domestic terror investigations repeatedly involve individuals who entered the country illegally or overstayed a visa. The border is still a front door for terrorism, and we are leaving it unlocked.

After 1993, we learned the hard way that you cannot buy security while refusing to enforce immigration laws. We are about to relearn that lesson. Senator Klobuchar's anti-terror investments will make for good press releases. They will not make the country safe.

If she is serious about terrorism, she should start at the southern border.