Posted on 04/06/2005 7:25:43 AM PDT by seastay
MONTERREY, Mexico – Four Iraqis were detained at an airport in the border city of Mexicali for allegedly carrying false passports, and two more were caught at a highway checkpoint, authorities said Tuesday.
The four Iraqis arrived Friday at the airport in Mexicali, across from Calexico, California, on a flight from Mexico City and were detained after immigration officials discovered the Dutch passports they were carrying were false, said Abraham Sarabia, an attorney general spokesman in Baja California state, where Mexicali is located.
Alya Kiryakous Dawood Sako, an American citizen and the sister of one of the Iraqis, was also detained and questioned. Dawood was released after immigration officials determined her passport was legitimate but she was turned to immigration officials and is awaiting deportation, Sarabia said. Sarabia said immigration officials noticed the men became nervous during routine questioning and once in custody of federal authorities they confessed their true identities.
The men were carrying Dutch passports under the names of Richard Richters, who Mexican officials say is Yacer Yoser Hana; Mikel Leewen, who turned out to be Basam Kiryakous; Jan Pieter Drijfhout, who is Basam Toma Jou and Robert Schurtman, whose real name is Sabham Kamel.
"Once in custody they told authorities they intended to sneak into the United States," Sarabia said. "They said they started their journey in Greece, traveled to Spain and then to Mexico City."
The men were being held at a prison in Mexicali pending charges for using false documents.
Also Tuesday, soldiers detained two Iraqi men traveling on Greek passports at a roadside checkpoint near Mexicali.
The two men were traveling aboard a bus bound for Mexicali. However, the photo on one of the men's passport's had been altered; he was also held pending charges, while the other man was held pending deportation.
Mauricio Juarez, a spokesman with the Migration Institute, said none of the men appear on terrorist watch lists.
It was not clear whether the Iraqis were linked to the Chaldean Christians, who have a sizable community in Southern California and frequently try to enter the United States through Mexico, claiming they face persecution in Iraq.
They are coming. Some are already here in hiding and it won't be until the next disaster that the govt will act but even then it will be used as an excuse to further degrade Constitutional rights and as a justification for reinstating the draft to expand the military. I hope it isn't so but something tells me that there's more than just politics afoot here.
TM ping
Forget these terrorists, it's more important that we strip-search and interrogate American retirees returning from their trips to Canada.
More likely a mexican govt ploy to distract from the MMP and make it LOOK like they (mexico) are doing something.
I hope they dont get tortured in Mexican jails.
Not if they forgot their bribe money.
Kiryakousis a christain name, good observation but one step further,, how would anybody know that Kiryakous is the real name, seems like a good alibi to use, and no way to check.
I have to agree with the other poster, who could even finance this type of trip?
But you have a point, if these people were truly just thinking of immigrating here illegally, it might make some sense, to come in by way of this route, but even with this scenario they are breaking the law and this just illustrates that all these toe clippers guards at the airports are not effective when we have an open border in the south that allows anybody to cross...
THERE IS CLEARLY A SUPPORT NETWORK AND TRANSPORTATION PIPELINE AT WORK HERE
dito!
are we sure about that, that these aren't harmless Iraqis
wanting to get into the US because they've seen its a great country, do we know what the refugee and immigration policy is vis a vis Iraqis now that Saddam has been ousted
I would imagine that Iraqis would be less likely to make successful refugee claims now that Saddam is gone and yet more Iraqis may wish to go to America, especially having been saved by Americans from Saddam
the only people being persecuted except Iraqi Christians, may be insurgents or former Baathists and they of course need not apply
there was a segment on Scarborough on the Minutemen and the question was will they do more harm than good and I yelled at the TV, those guys are just doing the job the government ain't
and of course hope to embarrass the government sufficiently to start doing its job
in a post 9-11 it really boggles the mind, we expect this from a Democratic administration but what is Bush thinking?
of course they've just announced tightening up the borders with Canada, when in fact the larger problem is that other border - you don't have what 10 million illegal Canadians floating around eh?
oh and as a Canadian I have no problem with the tightening of the Canadian borders, I've started using my passport to trips to the US already, even if just driving across to Niagara Fall NY
"Somebody got zotted for questioning his (DeLay's) ethics. "
That's amazing, considering how rotten Tom DeLay is.
The answer is incredibly simple but Bush and the RINOs want to fool the American public into believing we are powerless. It is this simple
1) Penalize employers - stiff fines and no excuses
2) Take away ALL benefits
3) Put up a wall
It is a complex problem but if these were imposed and enforced the border problem would be solved - we would be safer, crime would be reduced, schools and hospitals improved, less disease and drugs and taxes reduced. Every statistic shows that illegals cost much more than they bring in. GW is to blame and will be the reason the Hitlery is elected in 08.
Maybe not the right place or time to mention it, but I've always thought the goof that thought up those silly city names should be flogged.
4) Any kids born to illegals in the United States do not automatically become U.S. citizens.
5) All public institutions (hospitals, schools, banks, etc.) are required to demand proof of citizenship or legal residency status. Failure to provide such means the public institutions must (mandatory) report the individuals to the government as possible illegals.
6) State and local law enforcement must enforce immigration laws and fully cooperate with federal law enforcement in such matters.
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