Part 7/16:
America’s legacy as a land of refugees and opportunity is a double-edged sword. Its open borders, generous asylum policies, and educational openness attract legitimate immigrants but also create exploitation pathways. Arab, Asian, and African nations send students, workers, and refugees who, under the right circumstances, could turn into intelligence assets or radicalized cells.
Bustamante underscores that opportunistic foreign governments manipulate these systems—sending individuals with varying levels of radicalization or intelligence training to infiltrate U.S. institutions, leveraging American educational and visa policies designed for merit and humanitarian efforts. These pathways—longer-term and well-funded—are targeted by adversaries seeking to harness American vulnerabilities.