Officials Fear Terrorists Could Try to Enter U.S. Through Mexico

ABCNews ^

[Happy2BMe]

Cause for Concern?

Officials Fear Terrorists Could Try to Enter U.S. Through Mexico

By Pierre Thomas


July 30, 2004 — The U.S. government has become increasingly concerned that al Qaeda might try to exploit security gaps at the nation's borders, especially the Mexican border, ABC News has learned.

Concerns about border security were highlighted on July 19, when officials at McAllen-Miller International Airport in southern Texas arrested a woman suspected of having ties to al Qaeda.

Farida Goolam Mohamed, who had an airplane ticket to New York, was stopped when a Border Patrol agent noticed several pages of her South African passport had been removed. Officials also said her clothing was dirty and muddy, suggesting she might have recently crossed the nearby Rio Grande, the river separating Mexico and Texas.

The arrest is one reason why U.S. officials are increasingly concerned al Qaeda may try to smuggle terrorists into the United States from Mexico.

"Al Qaeda has recognized that one of our vulnerabilities is our [in]ability to completely seal and control access through Mexico," said ABC News consultant Jerry Hauer, former director of New York City's Office of Emergency Management.

Border Crossings Are Vulnerable, Experts Say

The 2,000-mile-long border with Mexico is virtually impossible to defend, officials said. And sources tell ABC News there is new intelligence that al Qaeda wants to smuggle terrorists across it.

It's well known that many Central Americans have been illegally coming across the U.S.-Mexican border. Now the U.S. government estimates that a quarter-million illegal aliens — not only from Central America, but also Africa and the Middle East — have been coming across the southern border each year.

Last month, customs officers at Miami's airport arrested an Egyptian national on charges of smuggling people from the Middle East through Central America into Mexico, and then into the United States.

[HiJinx]

Good observation...could be that the MSM has never looked at it (illegal immigration) from a WoT standpoint.

JB tells me they've delivered a 3rd WMD to officials in Tucson. It's not that hard, evidently. He can tell you stories about the Press visiting American Border Patrol last year and the utter disbelief of what they saw...

[skeeter]

Mine was tongue & cheek too.

[TomServo]

LOL!! Sorry...

[datura]

What? Did anyone else hear that really loud "Pop" noise? It was the administration's head moving out of its' posterior at a high rate of speed when reality stopped by for a visit.

Seriesly, though, I think this is some of the strategery starting to show. Kerry has basically come out for total amnesty, leaving the president with the entire right side of the field - and he's running with it. It's about damned time. October surprise: Seal the borders. If it turns out that way, I've got some huge "I told you so's" for the Bush bashers. If not, I've got a crow to eat that's just as large.

[upchuck]

Could? Hell they ARE!!! Most likely by the hundreds.

Close the border NOW!!

[skeeter]

Actually I meant every word, but I caught your drift.

The SOBs have been preying upon our sense of basic fairness for far too long. They're strangling us with it.

[TADSLOS]

Gee, the way this reads, you could hallucinate that this piece was written in 1993...

[TomServo]

The SOBs have been preying upon our sense of basic fairness for far too long. They're strangling us with it.

Yup. And we're on our hands and knees begging them to do it.

[Stellar Dendrite]

"October surprise: Seal the borders"

I'm sorry, playing politics with the borders is stupid. They should have been closed on 9/11!!!

[AF68]

Unfortunately, nothing will be done about the borders until thousands more Americans lay dead in the streets, their homes and their workplaces.

[4Freedom]

"Is this true?"

No!

[HiJinx]

No, the 2,000 mile border is not impossible to seal with the right amount of people, hardware and political will.

We have two out of three available right now.

Guess which is in short supply?

[ETERNAL WARMING]

LOL Took the words right out of my mouth. I guess it will take the loss of another 3000 citizens for our politicians to get serious about our borders. Until then, they'll keep bending over for their cheap labor donors.

[Kozak]

God help both political parties if we have another disaster on the scale of 9/11, and it becomes apparent our porous borders are to blame. Those in charge with be swept away by the wrath of the public. Neither the wails of the need for cheap labor, nor the whines of social justice will cut it anymore.

[RiverDrifter]

The SOBs have been preying upon our sense of basic fairness for far too long.

"Fairness" is not the word I would use.

[Guillermo]

Shoot, and even then it might not happen.

A lot of people proclaimed PC dead after 9-11, but I knew that it would only get much worse, and it has.

[sarcasm]

bttt

[sarcasm]

bttt

[TheLion]

Exactly! They could bring home troops from all over the world,and put one every 50 feet! We would still have plenty of troops.

Why this is not done is beyond belief.

[Tacis]

Well, this doesn't concern too much the thousands of Muslim kerrorists who have already snuck across the border over the past 2 years but it is of concern to the thousands who are resting and training in Cuban camps waiting to make their transition.Of course, Fox and the Mexican army are helping with the "material" by transporting it with the regular dope shipments.

You can almost pick the Republican areas that the kerrorists will attack to help Gigilo Johnny's campaign. Think of a couple of nasty attackes in September and then the Al-Jazeera video of masked guys with guns and a message warning that "Unless Bush steps down and Kansas becomes an independent Islamic state, there will be more." All of this has been streaming across the border for the past 2 years and we have done NOTHING!! SEAL THE FRIGGIN BORDER, NOW!!!!