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US-MEXICAN BORDER AS TERROR RISK
March 24, 2005
Recent intelligence gives the most evidence yet of terrorist plans. Lawmakers push for tighter security.
By Faye Bowers
Concern is growing at the top levels of government about the US-Mexican border becoming a back door for terrorists entering the United States. While Al Qaeda infiltration across the nation’s southern border has been a constant concern since 9/11, US officials cite recent intelligence giving the most definitive evidence yet that terrorists are planning to use it as an entry point - if they haven’t already.
As a result, a number of Republican and Democratic lawmakers - mainly from border states - are pushing to tighten checkpoints and other ways of monitoring the porous 1,400-mile boundary. The subject will also be central to President Bush’s summit in Texas Wednesday with Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.
“I’m worried about our border,” Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona said at a March 17 Senate hearing on threats facing the US. “We have now hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who are crossing illegally every year. And we are now seeing a larger number of people cross our southern border who are from countries of interest as opposed to just Latin American [countries].”
The “countries of interest” that Senator McCain refers to are those so designated by the US government as known to house radical, if not terrorist, groups.
One of the biggest concerns is that terrorists may exploit the current crossing procedures to make their way into the US. One way they might do this - and members of Congress say evidence is mounting that terrorists are trying this - is by paying smuggling networks, especially organized gangs.
The other is through a loophole in the system to separate the large number of illegal Mexican migrants, who are automatically turned back at the borders, from citizens of other countries who are allowed in, pending immigration hearings. These others are referred to as “other than Mexicans,” or OTMs, by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). They come from other Latin American countries as well as other parts of the world, many of them designated by the government as countries of “special interest.” In 2004, some 44,000 OTMs were allowed into the US.
It’s not clear how many terrorists or people having connections to terror groups may have entered the US as OTMs. But FBI Director Robert Mueller, in a House Appropriations Committee hearing March 9, said he was aware that individuals from countries with known Al Qaeda ties had entered the US under false identities.
Furthermore, in a Feb. 16 Senate hearing, Mr. Mueller cited the case of Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, who paid to be smuggled across the US-Mexico border in 2001. He pleaded guilty on March 1 to providing material support to Hizbullah and was sentenced to no more than five years in prison.
The most recent sign, though, that terrorists may be thinking of entering the US from the south came from the mastermind of many of the terror attacks in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Last week, US officials revealed that Mr. Zarqawi may be planning to broaden his campaign to include strikes in the US - and suggested it would be easy to infiltrate the US through the southern border.
Of the 44,000 OTMs who entered the US last year, it is not known how many were detained and how many remain free. Members of Congress are continuing to lean on government officials, asking for clear assessments of numbers as well as policies intended to thwart the entry of those who would harm the US.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) of California asked the DHS’s Adm. James Loy at a hearing last month about the numbers of OTMs detained and those set free. He replied that he didn’t have the numbers, and as of the end of last week, the senator’s office said the DHS still hadn’t provided her those numbers.
But in response to a request from Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D) of Texas, the DHS supplied numbers of OTMs registered, by country of origin, who had been released on their own recognizance for fiscal years 2002, 2003, and 2004. The totals were 5,775, 9,139, and 30,756 respectively.
Some countries, such as those known to export gang members, showed dramatic increases in numbers entering the US. The DHS document, for instance, shows 1,463 OTMs entering the US from El Salvador in 2002. That number increased to 7,963 in 2004. Some 2,539 OTMs entered the US from Honduras in 2002, and that number increased to 12,549 in 2004.
Representative Ortiz, though, disputes many of the DHS numbers. He says he regularly hears reports of much higher figures from border patrol officials from his district in Texas, which includes the border-crossing area of Brownsville.
“In the Brownsville sector alone, border patrol officials reported they caught 23,178 OTMs crossing through August 2004,” Mr. Ortiz says. “Of those, 16,616 were released.”
Ortiz also points out that another loophole is entering Mexico through Brazil, where a visa is not required to travel to Mexico.
“We believe there is an international Salafist jihadi movement with a goal to attack the near enemy and far enemy - the US,” says
Richard Shultz, an international security expert at Tufts University’s Fletcher School in Medford, Mass. “These terrorists are smart. They study these issues and learn from one other. And one way in is right through the southern security perimeter.”
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SYRIANS CAUGHT; IN US ILLEGALLY
March 24, 2005
Now I must take a chance on reprinting this story. I mean, how the hell did this not make headline news in every newspaper and television newscast around the world? Wait, let me guess, because King George the second just maybe surpressed the information? Or was it because the Syrians were actually just recruits for a McDoanalds in Washington D.C.?
2 indicted on charges of impersonating Americans
by Susan Carroll
A federal grand jury Wednesday indicted two Syrian men on charges of impersonating U.S. citizens after Border Patrol agents stopped them in southern Arizona and found an undocumented Mexican immigrant in their car.
According to a criminal complaint, Ala Salem Mamoud Al-Kurdi and Mohamed Tamman Nakchgandi, both citizens of Syria, were pulled over by Border Patrol agents on Feb. 18 on Arizona 86, a highway that runs through the Tohono O’odham Nation, a vast reservation southwest of Tucson.
In the back seat of the Cadillac, driven by Kurdi, agents spotted a Mexican man who later admitted to crossing the U.S.-Mexican border illegally three days earlier, according to Border Patrol reports. Kurdi and Nakchgandi, the passenger, said they were naturalized U.S. citizens born in Syria, but agents found they were in the country illegally, according to court records.
The agents reported that a second Cadillac was spotted traveling in tandem with Kurdi’s along the highway, but got away. The Mexican man later told authorities he crossed the border with five other undocumented immigrants, who were in the second car, the Border Patrol reported.
A check of immigration records showed that Nakchgandi had entered the country legally in 1999 with a temporary visitor’s visa, but overstayed, according to the Border Patrol. The agency reported that Kurdi also entered legally with an employment-authorization card that recently was canceled.
Kurdi, 25, and Nakchgandi, 24, were each charged with impersonating a U.S. citizen. Authorities have not established a link between the pair and the undocumented Mexican man, “except that they were all in the same vehicle,” according to the Border Patrol.
An arraignment for Kurdi and Nakchgandi is scheduled for Thursday in U.S. District Court in Tucson, said Sandy Raynor, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The two men are being held in federal custody until trial, according to court records. Their attorneys did not return phone calls Thursday.
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WHERE IS TEDDY ROOSEVELT WHEN YOU NEED HIM?
March 24, 2005
U.S. border security is continuing to deteriorate and, as it does, the threat of terrorist attacks becomes more probable. Assaults against U.S. Border Patrol agents are on the rise. Human smuggling of illegal aliens has become a formalized business, increasing to the scale of tractor-trailer loads of illegals being trafficked throughout the nation by way of a sophisticated distribution network. Drugs cartels and international gangs are trafficking tons of narcotics, military weapons and other contraband across the U.S. – Mexico international border with impunity. Kidnappings, ransom demands, and murders are occurring with increasing frequency along the border to the point that the U.S. Department of State issues a travel advisory to avoid the area. To a large extent, these problems are the result of the failure of our federal government to enforce existing U.S. Immigration Laws. The serial history of “final” amnesty programs and the proposed “guest worker” program only add incentive for illegal aliens to head for our border.
The Government of Mexico is also fueling the crisis at our border. It is openly encouraging the mass migration of its population across the border to defuse domestic frustration with poor economic conditions and lack of employment opportunities. Mexican support groups assist the migrants in their journey and provide logistical support for those who must make multiple attempts to cross the border – a process that eventually is successful. A majority of the some 20 million illegals in the U.S. made multiple attempts to cross the border before finally achieving their goal. They know that success is just a matter of repetition.
In addition to defusing the potential for domestic unrest and minimizing the costs of supporting an exploding population, the Mexican government has powerful economic reasons for assisting its citizens to relocate to the United States. The illegal aliens who have become established in the United States send a substantial portion of their earnings back to Mexico. The volume of cash has recently increased to the point that it is the largest economic sector of the Mexican economy – ahead of oil exports and tourism. This is cash that is not reinvested in the U.S. economy to further our economic development; it is invested in Mexico to further Mexican economic development.
Corruption within the ranks of the Mexican military and law enforcement agencies is so rampant as to make the enforcement of border security a one-sided effort. Even worse than being ineffective, many Mexican enforcement “officials” are known to actively participate in border enforcement activities by day and moonlight in smuggling activities. Highly-skilled commandos - the Zetas - who were trained in the United States at the Ft. Benning, Georgia School of the Americas Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. These special forces-type soldiers were trained to interdict drug smuggling activities and take out the smugglers. They are highly skilled and know the methods of drug enforcement agencies. They have joined the ranks of the drug cartels and now protect their operations and drug smuggling corridors. About two thirds of the cocaine and marijuana that enters the U.S. each year is smuggled through by Mexican cartels. Most recently the methamphetamine crystal that is ravaging the U.S. has been added to this traffic.
Mexican government agencies are publishing guidebooks and issuing identification documents to assist the illegal immigrants. A comic book-style publication teaches the illegals how to avoid the U.S. Border Patrol and local law enforcement officials and assimilate into U.S. society. A passport-type document — a “Matricula Consular” – that contains the name, address and photo of the holder – is being issued through Mexican consulates to help establish a “legitimate” identity for the illegal aliens.
At the international level, treaties are being negotiated to allow illegal aliens to access and receive the hundreds of billions of Social Security funds that have accumulated over the years due to mismatched records. The mismatch has largely occurred as a result of illegal aliens using fraudulent identification documents and fake Social Security Account Numbers to obtain employment from employers who hire them illegally under the guise of not knowing that the documents are fraudulent. At a time when Americans are being asked to sacrifice and rework the Social Security System, illegal aliens are attempting to siphon off the billions of dollars of contributions obtained from their illegal employment activities.
The president of Mexico and its Foreign Minister decry the efforts of the sovereign State of Arizona to pass laws intended to verify identity and legal status prior to allowing voting in public elections or application for public benefits. Further, it has formally announced that it will use International and Domestic Courts to challenge the adoption of these laws and implementation of other measures that Arizona legislators are establishing – measures deemed necessary by Arizona to secure its borders and minimize the fiscal impact of dealing with the millions of illegals, mostly Mexican, who are costing its legal residents millions of dollars of costs and subsidies each year. This is clearly interference with the internal affairs of Arizona, as well as the rest of the nation.
In addition to ignoring federal immigration laws and challenging the laws of rights of the State of Arizona, and attempts to access Social Security and other public benefits intended for legal U.S. workers, the Mexican government has announced its intention to interfere with the rights of legal U.S. Citizens. It plans to hire Los Angeles-based attorneys to use all available legal means to intervene with the Minuteman Project that will occur near Douglas, Arizona during the month of April. The Minuteman Project is a group of U.S. citizen volunteers who will travel from virtually every state in the Union to establish a 24-hour, 7-day-per-week vigil to monitor illegal border incursions and reinforce an overwhelmed U.S. Border Patrol. The Minuteman Project embodies the legal, and Constitutionally protected, right of U.S. citizens voluntarily to come together and assemble. In this case, they intend to monitor illegal border incursions, communicate information about any incursions located, and work to reinforce an overwhelmed and demoralized U. S. Border Patrol. The Minutemen seek only to have the laws of our nation enforced and the sovereignty of the United States protected.
In spite of federal efforts to enhance security along the U.S. – Mexico border, the number of illegal aliens entering the country continues to increase and drug trafficking is increasing and becoming more violent. The ease with which Central American – based gang members like the “Mara Salvatricha (MS-13) are able to come and go from the U.S., proves that our borders are wide open to terrorists. The ability of those who are intent on harming us to penetrate into the heart of the nation is enhanced by the massive invasion of some three million illegal aliens who are now entering this country each year.
April is a time of rejuvenation in the desert. Spring rains bring the wildflowers, cactus blossoms and greenery. It is a good time to take some time. It is a good time to go to Arizona. It would be nice if Teddy Roosevelt could be here to lead us. I am sure that this is a “ride” that he would join.
Ron Headley
Elmira, NY
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ADIOS, AMERICA
World Net Daily
Mar. 21, 2005
Vox Day
Anti-immigrant sentiment appears to be growing in the United States, Mexican President Vicente Fox said Wednesday, and he urged U.S. officials to act quickly to control movements such as the 950-member-strong Minuteman Project on the Mexico-Arizona border. “We will use the law, international law and even U.S. law to make sure that these types of groups, which are a minority ... will not have any opportunity to progress.”
Fox said he plans to push for U.S. immigration reform during a meeting with President Bush in Texas next week. He also said the two leaders, along with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, likely will announce a plan to expand the scope of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
In the spring of 1950, the foreign minister of France, Robert Schuman, proposed that France and Germany collectivize their coal and steel resources. On June 3 of that year, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Italy the Netherlands and Germany subscribed to what became known as the Schuman Declaration, which in 1951 led to the Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community.
Fifty-one years later, the sale of national sovereignty was completed when most of the governments across Europe abandoned their national currencies in favor of the euro and accepted that the dictates of the unelected 17-man European Commission would thenceforth supersede national legislatures.
Two score and 11 years was all it took to transform a diverse community of sovereign nations into a single oligarchic dictatorship, beginning with nothing more than the humble coordination of mining activities. The European Union is far more civilized than its Soviet namesake, for it uses banks instead of tanks to enforce its will, but the absence of a body count does not mean that the institution respects individual liberties or suffers any limits upon its power. Still, if the Europeans are shortsighted enough to allow their governments to sign them up for the de facto Fourth Reich, it’s hard to find much sympathy for them – particularly when the same process has already begun here at home.
Like the European Common Market, NAFTA was billed to an unsuspecting public in 1992 as a free-trade agreement, when in fact it was simply the first step toward the supra-national pan-American political entity that will be called the American Union. Or perhaps, as the current parlance has it, the Union of the Americas.
This is why George Bush and the Republican leadership so freely – and otherwise inexplicably – ignore the will of the Republican Party membership, which is strongly in favor of enforcing the immigration laws, if not tightening them. There is no point in attempting to prevent Mexican citizens from entering the United States when citizens of Mexico, the USA and Canada will soon enjoy a shared national identity.
This is also why grass-roots efforts to change the status quo of de facto open borders are doomed to failure, as any attempt by state and local politicians to enforce the law in border states will be quickly shut down by federal organizations and the judiciary, and as President Fox helpfully points out, private attempts will be prosecuted in any court likely to find them illegal.
Since the U.S. Constitution no longer exists as a definitive legal document, but has instead been transformed into an occasional inspiration for the pronouncements of the unelected nine-man American Commission (also known as the Supreme Court), there is no longer anything to prevent the delivery of the rough hydra-headed beast slouching toward Washington, waiting to be born. Voters can’t prevent it, since both the present administration and its Democratic opposition support pan-American amalgamation, nor can state or local officials since the concept of a right to secession was settled by military force in 1865.
The patterns of history are clear. The political pendulum is swinging heavily toward increased centralization, and in American terms, that spells the end of the nation as a unique proposition dedicated to individual freedom, unalienable rights derived from God and limited government. The only question that remains is if the nation’s weakening economic foundation will speed or slow this process, or if it will end the project altogether.
So, my fellow Americans, enjoy your national sovereignty while it lasts. I estimate you’ve got about 38 more years to do so.
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