Experts: Borders 'Wide Open to Terrorists'

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The borders and entry points to the United States leak like sieves, offering the nation little or no protection against potential terrorists who can enter the country undetected, immigration experts said on Tuesday.

"It should be universally recognized that our borders are out of control," said Bill King, a retired senior Border Patrol agent and former head of the Border Patrol Academy.

King told a seminar organized by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think-tank, that there were almost 9 million people illegally residing in the United States.

"They can be job seekers, criminals, disease carriers and now they can be foreign agents ... Both our borders (with Mexico and Canada) are sieves. Anyone can cross either border today," he said.

Of the 19 people thought to have carried out the suicide hijackings on Sept. 11 that killed around 4,800 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, at least 13 entered the country as tourists, business travelers or students. The entry of the others cannot be accounted for.

In a recent paper, Steven Camarota and Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, argued that "the current terrorist threat to the United States comes almost exclusively from individuals who arrive from abroad ... Unfortunately, prior to September 11, a portion of America's elite had come to see our borders as little more than an irritant, an obstacle to be overcome by travelers and businessmen."

Peter Nunez, a former U.S. attorney for San Diego, said the Immigration and Naturalization Service suffered from a lack of money, manpower and equipment and low morale. He said special interest groups interested in securing a source of low-paying labor consistently thwarted efforts to control the borders.

Some states were now issuing drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, which they could then use as identification to board aircraft, Nunez said.

"Why are we allowing people to create false identities to hide in plain sight?" he said.

When Kentucky stopped requiring foreign applicants to take drivers' tests and delivering licenses on the spot in 1996, the number of foreign applicants exploded within weeks, coming from as far away as New York to get licenses.

Last year, 500 million people entered the United States as legal entry points. Close to half were returning U.S. citizens but the rest included millions of tourists and visiting business travelers. The INS believes up to 40 percent of those illegally in the country are people who overstayed their visas and can melt into the population.

Jessica Vaughan, a former foreign service consular officer, said the State Department had forgotten its role in national security when it issued visas. Its officers concentrated on handling the maximum amount of applications in the shortest possible time, rather than trying to weed out those who could be a threat.

Krikorian said visa officers regarded foreign applicants rather than the American people as their primary customers and preferred to keep them happy, rather than keep them waiting.

He also noted that only around 400 agents were responsible for patrolling the 4,000-mile (6,432-km) border with Canada, where "Islamic terrorists are more likely to slip into the country from the sizable Canadian Muslim community that can provide them with cover."

Several speakers noted that the INS and other law enforcement agencies made no effort to keep track of visitors, legal or illegal, once they entered the country.

"If you can sneak past the border, you are home free. Nobody is going to look for you," said Nunez.

"If illegal immigrants can get through the border, then so can drug dealers, so can terrorists," he said.

One of the Sept. 11 hijackers entered the country on a student visa but never attended a class.

Krikorian and Camarota would like to see every applicant for a U.S. visa fingerprinted and their prints placed in an integrated system that could be accessed by every agency involved in the immigration process.

"Visa officers should be empowered to deny visas to people who are clearly enemies of the United States but who have not actually engaged in terrorism," they said.

They also urged greater scrutiny of citizens wishing to come to the United States from countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Students and others from such countries needed to be tracked once they arrived in the United States to ensure they were doing what they came to do and did not overstay their visas.

Terrorist attacks could influence Mexican truck debate

Suzanne Gamboa

Associated Press

Nov. 02, 2001 07:35:00

WASHINGTON - President Bush wants to open more U.S. highways to Mexican trucks in January, but that could be a tougher sell now that law enforcement wants to tighten security on the border.

The Teamsters union, which represents American truckers, said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks reinforce the need to ensure vehicles are thoroughly checked at the border and meet U.S. safety requirements.

"We believe that senators and members of Congress and the president will be more in tune with some of the concerns that we've been stating since 1993, and that the tragic events just bring greater attention onto letting trucks cross the border without anybody looking at them," Teamsters spokesman Bret Caldwell said.

Even before Sept. 11, Bush faced opposition on the issue, which Mexican President Vicente Fox has said is key to U.S.-Mexican relations. The House passed an outright ban on Mexican trucks, citing safety concerns, while the Senate in August passed a measure calling for strict safety regulations and more truck inspectors at the border. Bush opposed both bills.

The House and Senate soon will begin work on a compromise. Bush has threatened a veto if the final version delays opening more roads to the trucks.

The 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement among the United States, Mexico and Canada called for allowing Mexican trucks to travel throughout the United States by Jan. 1, 2000, but opposition from unions and safety groups kept that from happening. Currently trucks from Mexico are restricted to a commercial zone along the border.

The Bush administration's plan would permit Mexican companies that say they comply with U.S. safety standards to operate in the country for 18 months while their claims are verified.

"In light of what happened Sept. 11, it seems even more foolhardy to do that," said Jackie Gillan, vice president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

About 5,000 people die each year in truck accidents, she said, noting the figure is about the same as the number of victims of the terrorist attacks.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., sponsored the Senate bill with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. Murray said the terrorist attacks have increased Americans' concerns about border safety, and that puts her and her allies in the driver's seat for negotiations.

"Immigration and customs are now conducting more aggressive checks of everyone crossing the border," she said. Tighter restrictions on Mexican "will be a companion to that."

Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, favors Bush's plan. He doesn't believe the terrorist attacks should have any influence on the issue.

"This has nothing to do with security," Gramm said. "Anyone who tries to tie these two together is engaged in piracy, and is profiting from misery."

Government investigators have said for years that Mexican trucks are less safe than American trucks. About 36 percent of Mexican trucks inspected last year were taken out of service, compared to about 25 percent of U.S. trucks.

Those who favor opening more U.S. highways to the trucks say the failure rates are based on vehicles that operate only in the commercial border zone. They say carriers will have to use safer and better trucks for longer trips.

Since the attacks, the federal government has intensified inspections at the Mexican and Canadian borders. Lines are longer and traffic has slowed as inspectors check vehicles more closely.

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