Clearly Failing': Santorum, Paul, Bachmann React to Shocking GBTV Border Security Report

(Editor's Note: This story has been updated and will continue to be as more campaigns respond to yesterday's GBTV report on the current state of U.S. border security)

Yesterday, GBTV and the Blaze told you the truth about the U.S.-Mexico Border. You learned about the vicious terrorist violence routinely engaged in by the cartels, the links between drug barons and international Islamic militants, and the obstructionist policies of the Obama administration that prevent effective border enforcement.

Clearly, America's work to secure its border is just beginning.

Due to the dire nature of the national security threats created by the current state of the border, The Blaze believes this information and the policy discussion it inspires must reach the highest levels of the U.S. government.

To that end, we sent the GBTV border story out to all the Republican presidential contenders (including some of those who have dropped out of the race) so that they can weigh in on the issue of securing U.S. borders.

Rick Santorum's camp gave a robust response to Glenn's disturbing, unvarnished view of the threats coming across the border. Santorum was particularly struck by the Islamic terrorism connections to the cartel, and released this statement on it:

"For the past ten years, Iran and Syria, both designated state sponsors of terrorism, have not only developed close ties with the drug cartels and criminal states like Venezuela and Cuba, they have built ports, airports, military bases and military warehouses throughout our hemisphere. They have constructed a criminal, military and intelligence infrastructure in our back yard."

Santorum's statement did not stop with this critical discussion of Hezbollah ties. It went on to discuss operational and tactical details of this cartel-terrorist alliance, including that:

"There are series of sophisticated underground narcotunnels found at the U.S.-Mexico border that, according to congressional testimony, strongly resemble the types used by Hezbollah in Lebanon. Numerous public officials have discussed the fact that narcotraffickers and potential terrorists with Hezbollah tattoos are caught entering the U.S."

Congressman Ron Paul and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann have also responded. And they're upset about the border as well.

Paul's official statement clearly shows he considers the border to be a critical security issue:

"Controlling our borders is one of the essential Constitutional functions of our government, and one in which we are clearly failing. It makes no sense to me that we pay more attention to the borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan than we do to our own borders here at home. If elected President, I would move to quickly end foreign nation building efforts and use many of the resources we waste playing world's policemen to control our southern border. We cannot have a strong national defense without a secure border, and we must take decisive action."

Congresswoman Bachmann may no longer be in the GOP primary race, but she currently sits on the House Intelligence Committee. She responded by honing in on the links between cartels and international Islamic terror groups:

"I have long believed that our border problem is inextricably linked with international terrorism. Though many of the stories are not widely reported, we have definite reason to believe that terrorists are literally on America’s doorstep. We cannot afford to have a poorly protected border any longer. After all, we cannot truly have homeland security without having border security.”

In addition to these statements, The Blaze reached out to the Romney, Perry, and Gingrich campaigns for their reactions to the GBTV expose of what's really happening at our southern border-- and even more alarming, what could happen if the status quo continues.

Read The Blaze's original report here.