It is a phrase I have repeated over and over again during recent national debates about immigration reform: “Border security is national security.” There is nothing racist or bigoted about that statement. It is simply common sense. And it is a lesson Europe is learning the hard way.

According to the Associated Press, the Belgian woman who alerted police to the location of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind of the Paris attacks, also told authorities that Abbaaoud entered France with 90 other Islamic extremists. Abbaaoud claimed that they got in with a wave of migrants and came without any documents.

Her story — that ISIS terrorists entered Europe as refugees — is being confirmed by Germany’s intelligence service. [Thursday], it thwarted an ISIS plot to attack Berlin, and top officials say they have received more than 100 tips warning of Islamic extremists among the refugees.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone. ISIS has told us they are doing it.

Closer to home, the Drug Enforcement Agency announced this week that it busted a major Hezbollah drug smuggling operation. It is part of an ongoing project “which targets and monitors the global network of Hezbollah activities responsible for moving large quantities of cocaine in the U.S. and Europe.”

If Hezbollah can smuggle drugs into the country, it could just as easily smuggle terrorists.

And then there’s this: The president of the National Border Patrol Council testified before Congress this week that the Obama administration has reinstated its policy of “catch and release” when it comes to illegal immigrants apprehended at the border.

“We might as well abolish our immigration laws altogether,” agent Brandon Judd told members of a House Judiciary subcommittee.

We should be learning from Europe’s mistakes right now, but instead we are repeating them.

Obama Wants To Raise Your Taxes

As President Obama puts together the last budget of his administration, he is coming up with creative ways to raise your taxes, promote his left-wing agenda and simultaneously punish vital American industries.

One bright spot in the economy lately has been low gas prices. But Obama wants to put an end to that. He is proposing a new $10 tax on every barrel of oil. If enacted and passed on to consumers, it would raise gas prices 25 cents a gallon! It’s a $20 billion tax hike on working families and anyone who heats their home with oil.

It would be a devastating blow to many American energy companies, which are already struggling to stay competitive in a market flooded by cheap Saudi crude.

This is all part of the left’s radical “green agenda.” He is punishing people for driving cars and using fossil fuels — people who are just trying to go to work and provide for their families.

Remember, Obama said he would bankrupt the coal companies, and he is doing it. And his first energy secretary said we needed gas prices to be around $7.00 a gallon.

Failing Our Children; Failing America

I saw this depressing headline recently: “U.S. Schools Get Failing Grade For Financial Literacy Education.” According the report, fewer than half of the states require high school students to take a basic economics class. Even fewer require students to take courses in personal finance.

Needless to say, this lack of basic education helps to explain this headline: “One Third Of Millennials View Socialism Favorably.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to turn America into another failed “workers’ paradise” like Cuba, where toilet paper can be hard to find.

But there is good news. Guess what 55% of college students said was their most trusted source for financial information? It wasn’t Google. It wasn’t their friends or even liberal college professors. It was PARENTS!

So, here’s your homework assignment for the weekend: Please, please, please talk to your children, especially if they are high school seniors or college students.

Remind them that the government does not produce wealth. The only money it has is what it takes from the people who do create wealth.