US-Mexican border as a terror risk
Recent intelligence gives the most evidence yet of terrorist plans.
Lawmakers push for tighter security.
By Faye Bowers | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – 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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| User: "Woodswun" |
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| Title: Re: US-Mexican border as a terror risk |
22 Mar 2005 04:55:16 PM |
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wrote:
US-Mexican border as a terror risk
Recent intelligence gives the most evidence yet of terrorist plans.
Lawmakers push for tighter security.
Too bad they didn't think of that before they voted to let Bush send our
folks over to Iraq on a wild goose chase.
Woods
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: US-Mexican border as a terror risk |
24 Mar 2005 05:29:26 AM |
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itwill@happen.com wrote:
US-Mexican border as a terror risk
Recent intelligence gives the most evidence yet of terrorist plans.
Lawmakers push for tighter security.
Too bad they didn't think of that before they voted to let Bush send our
folks over to Iraq on a wild goose chase.
Woods
As if we would put combat forces on the border.
Tony
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| User: "Charly the Bastard" |
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| Title: Re: US-Mexican border as a terror risk |
28 Mar 2005 09:38:35 PM |
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wrote:
wrote:
US-Mexican border as a terror risk
Recent intelligence gives the most evidence yet of terrorist plans.
Lawmakers push for tighter security.
Too bad they didn't think of that before they voted to let Bush send our
folks over to Iraq on a wild goose chase.
Woods
As if we would put combat forces on the border.
Tony
We have before, if we need to, we'll do it again. It's all about creating a
state of fear sufficient to get the sheeple to shred the rest of the
Constitution, which is the only thing standing in the way of the Antichrist
taking over completely. Why has W called for increased border security while
cutting the budget for the Border Patrol by 90%? I may not know everything,
but I know ***** when I step in it.
Charly
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: US-Mexican border as a terror risk |
29 Mar 2005 09:21:46 AM |
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Charly the ***** wrote:
itwill@happen.com wrote:
itwill@happen.com wrote:
US-Mexican border as a terror risk
Recent intelligence gives the most evidence yet of terrorist plans.
Lawmakers push for tighter security.
Too bad they didn't think of that before they voted to let Bush send our
folks over to Iraq on a wild goose chase.
Woods
As if we would put combat forces on the border.
Tony
We have before, if we need to, we'll do it again.
We don't need combat forces on the border, we need enough patrols
and a wall.
It's all about creating a
state of fear sufficient to get the sheeple to shred the rest of the
Constitution, which is the only thing standing in the way of the Antichrist
taking over completely.
Charly
LOL!!!
Tony
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