Terrorists are using Canada as a launching pad to illegally enter America.

Channel 7, KIRO TV, Seattle, WA ^ | November 17, 2003 | Chris Halsne, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter

[holyscroller]

SEATTLE -- Terrorists are using Canada as a launching pad to illegally enter America.

An exclusive KIRO Team 7 Investigation uncovers not only are terrorist recruitments going on in British Columbia, but holes in border security between there and Western Washington are an open gate, letting terrorists walk right in.

KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne exposes the threat from Vancouver.

This city wants to be known as our friendly neighbor to the north and host for the 2010 Winter Games.

However, a KIRO Team 7 Investigation discovered it's also home to 55 known terrorist organizations, some of which would do anything to kill Americans.

Hezbollah, Hamas, the Armed Islamic Group, al-Qaida, and the Army of Mohammed aren't confined to terrorist training camps in the Middle East. National security insiders tell KIRO Team 7 Investigators hundreds of seasoned terrorists are hanging out in British Columbia.

"Those people have a hate for this country," said Carey James, retired Border Patrol Chief and current undersheriff of Whatcom County. "Some of the intelligence I had access to said there were terror groups; organizations from all over the world. Every group you can think of has a cell in the Vancouver area."

The sleeper cells aren't just sitting idle.

The Royal Mounted Police tell KIRO Team 7 Investigators al-Qaida is dealing drugs in Vancouver to raise money for its cause. Justice Department sources also tell us this year known terrorists have been probing our porous border just north of Seattle.

"It's a genuine threat to this country," said former U.S. Border Patrol Deputy Chief Gene Davis.

Davis continues to advise Congress about northern border security.

"I'm telling you the threat up there has not diminished one bit. It's probably greater now than ever before and greater right here in this area," Davis said.

KIRO Team 7 Investigators uncovered some pretty scary lapses already. A smuggler successfully walked a group of Pakistani men down a pipeline underneath a broken border camera this summer. Authorities caught two at Sea-Tac Airport, but as many as five others remain at large.

"I think it's well known what can potentially cross the border. They've already crossed," said Daryl Schermerhorn.

Schermerhorn is a current Border Patrol agent along the Blaine sector, a 40-mile stretch of Canadian-U.S. border.

He says the biggest problem agents have right now of stopping potential terrorists is a new Border Patrol mandate: Don't arrest anyone, just chase them back into Canada.

"If you're making arrests, bringing them to the office, identifying them, interrogating them -- then you can gather intelligence. You can't gather intelligence from people you don't arrest."

No arrests mean the terrorist watch list is useless.

"If you're not going to catch 'em, don't know who they are, how you gonna check the list?"

Adding to security problems, the new super-computer remote cameras established to catch trespassers along the northern border still don't work as promised.

KIRO Team 7 Investigation first broke the story last year and very little has changed: $8 million over budget and cameras break down every day.

"It's been shown time and time again that they don't work well in certain weather conditions and those issues haven't been addressed," said Schermerhorn.

Due to national security reasons, KIRO Team 7 Investigators aren't going to reveal the exact location of this camera pole, but we do want to reveal one of the great deficiencies here. There are supposed to be two cameras, one for day and one for night. But agents tell us, the night vision broke months ago and there are no spare parts to replace it.

The Justice Department has ordered at least 400 new agents be assigned to the northern border in the coming months. We're told top officials in Washington, D.C., are nervous that the next big terrorist attack will have Canadian roots.

Canadian House of Common member Val Meredith hopes that's not true, but admits her government has been lax.

"We're very critical that the government hasn't moved strong enough, fast enough, in identifying the terrorist organizations like Hamas," said Meredith.

This Member of Parliament also warns us to look within. She says there is proof already that terrorist recruiting is occurring at local Mosques.

We're not just talking about foreigners; we're talking about our own young people being pulled into this circle of violence and terrorism.

International security experts say that since 9/11, Canadian immigration policies have toughened up. However, some members of parliament say prior to that, Canada did allow some well-known terrorists to slip into Vancouver. Then they disappeared.

[MD_Willington_1976]

The US/Canada border with BC goes from the Georgia Strait/Juan de Fuca strait all the way across to the first 1/4rd of Montana, it's not like you could post a couple guys along it. Funny thing about Vancouver is that the local Gov employees will never mention any real big problems in the city, that may make Tourists second guess a visit to Vancouver.

[RaceBannon]

major bump

[Toespi]

I know I have posted this on different threads so I apologize about redundancy. However this is so on point. My husband and I are Great Lake boaters and our home port is in Port Clinton, Ohio on Lake Erie. We occassionally take a trip up Lake Erie, into the Detroit River and go to Windsor, Ontario casino for the weekend. We enter Canadian water at the top of Lake Erie and it is only realized by a GPS/chart demarcation line. Once we arrive at the marina we will be staying at, our only requirement is to call by land phone the Can customs, register our names, how many are on board and our boat name/numbers, also how long we will be staying. That's it. But what is most frightening is that when we leave the marina and head back to the USA there are absolutely NO customs, we could take drugs, guns or people with us who are not American citizens back into the US. We as well as other friends who are boaters have never been Coast Guard boarded for random checks or even questioned when we leave the marina. I might add that Windsor's middle eastern population is probably at 45% and from our experience very radical as to their hatred of the US. This border is a ticking time bomb.

[Cindy]

Worth repeating...

KIRO TV.com - News: "Team 7 Investigation Finds Terrorist Threats Across Border Chris Halsne KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: SEATTLE -- Terrorists are using Canada as a launching pad to illegally enter America. An exclusive KIRO Team 7 Investigation uncovers not only are terrorist recruitments going on in British Columbia, but holes in border security between there and Western Washington are an open gate, letting terrorists walk right in. KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne exposes the threat from Vancouver. This city wants to be known as our friendly neighbor to the north and host for the 2010 Winter Games. However, a KIRO Team 7 Investigation discovered it's also home to 55 known terrorist organizations, some of which would do anything to kill Americans.

[BJungNan]

it's not like you could post a couple guys along it.

You are not suggesting we do not have the means to guard our own borders are you?

[Libertina]

new Border Patrol mandate: Don't arrest anyone, just chase them back into Canada
Words fail me...

[calawah98]

Right in my back yard.
Seeing as how the Gov and the state legislature passed the illegal alien drivers liscense, and the mayor of Seattle declared it a safe zone for illegals, it is only a matter of time until something happens. But all the faxes that have been sent, and phone calls have done nothing to make the states reprsentatives, and senators do any thing about the borders, sure makes you wonder what in the h---is going on.
I will have to let Lou Dobbs in on this story, he is still doing a continuing series on illegals. He is on at 3pm pacific time, and a rerun again at 8 or 9pm. If people haven't been tuning in they are missing a good program.

[BJungNan]

A million citizen reporters here on FR. Thanks so much for the first hand insight on the situation there. My blood is boiling over this.

And I am sorry to say this because I think highly of Bush. But on the War on Terror and National Security in the face of evil, Bush is nothing more than a lot of hot air as long as he does nothing about this threat.

[calawah98]

No he was'nt caught on the border. He was crossing the ferry from Victoria, Canada, and docking in Port Angeles Washington. He was not acting quite right, so the customs officer asked to look in the trunk of his car, and they found the explosives. They thought he was going to blow up the space needle because of y2k, but he told them he was going to blow up LAX. No he did not tell the customs agents he was a terrorist. Because he was acting nervous, and a little worried, that is why they gave him a through search.

[MD_Willington_1976]

You are not suggesting we do not have the means to guard our own borders are you?

I am suggesting that the borders, both North and South, need better monitoring, I KNOW that the US CAN defend it's borders.

I KNOW That the Canadian government is as useless as tetes on a bull, I am from Canada (BC) and nothing pisses me off more than the Canadian government letting any and all "whack-job" pieces of gutter trash into the country.

Americans have every right to be pissed off at Canada for letting this BS go unchecked. This is why I am greatful to be living in Washington State because I am sick of the way things a going up in "The Great White North"

[Toespi]

Not is defense but the entire situation is hopeless in patrolling these borders as well as the open waterways. This is just Lake Erie/Detroit River which goes into Lake St. Clair and then Huron, Michigan etc. Consider Lake Ontario from Buffalo. They could not possibly check every boat that enters these vast waters with immensely unpopulated and wild shores that connect to Canada. The problem lies with Canada and their liberal view of the Middle Eastern population that has overrun Canada. We should be asking why have they chosen to settle in Canada? That is what is most frightening, could there be motives that we just can not fathom?

[Congressman Billybob]

I deal briefly with the Canadian border situation, in addition to the Mexican one, in this week's column. And I wrote about the security risks, as opposed to the volume problem, on the northern border. Click below.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, "Double Crossing at the Rio Grande," discussion thread. IF YOU WANT A FREEPER IN CONGRESS, CLICK HERE.

[cmsgop]

It was WAYYYYYYYYYYY Tougher for me to get into BC (Via Blain Border) When we came back to the US Check Point it was like "Oh, Hey Dude Come on through"......

[pointsal]

an expresso ping

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

You are not suggesting we do not have the means to guard our own borders are you?

I have said it once and I will say it again. Unless your country is the size of a postage stamp there is no way for you to completely close a border.

Russia and the Eastern Block tried it. China tries it. North Korea tries it. And none of them can do it.

If I want to get across a border bad enough I will get across. All you can do is make me get creative.

Having said that you certainly can cut down on the number of regular crossers by making it more trouble then it is worth. That is a worth while goal. But it isn't going to prevent a terrorist from getting in. Sorry.

[swilhelm73]

No he did not tell the customs agents he was a terrorist.

You misread what I wrote. He told the Canadian immigration official that he had been accused of being a terrorist. Instead of expelling him immediately, Canada allowed their slow legal system to grind on while he applied for amnesty.

Then, when they finally ordered him deported he simply didn't show up...and that was it for Canada'a immigration efforts, though supposedly CSIS was paying attention to the group Ressam was in.

[holyscroller]

Once in awhile the locals are successful in getting thru to Border patrol that somebody just tripped through their cabbage patch. What really ticks me off, is that we get so many articles in the local media that the cameras at such and such a point, or the trip wires here or there haven't worked for six months. I guess it pays to advertise. Gotta wonder whose side our "guards" are really on. If they aren't going to put human beings on duty, at least they could keep the electronic equipment working!

[Eska]

If I leave my cabin and head up river 10 miles, I hit the canadian border. They have both flags hanging side by side on a clothesline rope; then 100 miles until you come to Dawson. I've always wanted to move those flags upriver a few miles but figure someone wouldn't see the humor.

Nobody up here gives terrorism much of a thought or worries much about the border; and I like it that way.

[Klickitat]

"International security experts say that since 9/11, Canadian immigration policies have toughened up. However, some members of parliament say prior to that, Canada did allow some well-known terrorists to slip into Vancouver. Then they disappeared.

Gee, I wonder where they could have gone?!?!?! Alberta maybe, or Saskatchewan? Maybe Yukon? Certainly not the US. They didn't have visas, and we all know how seriously visa violations are prosecuted in this country.

[Prince Charles]

He says the biggest problem agents have right now of stopping potential terrorists is a new Border Patrol mandate: Don't arrest anyone, just chase them back into Canada.

Bee-u-ti-ful. That gives the agents enough time to get back to the office for fresh coffee and donuts.