Posted on 01/15/2006 4:48:35 PM PST by rajuchor
Infiltration from the south feared Terrorist smuggling denied by admitted drug runner
BY SERGIO CHAPA The Brownsville Herald
January 15, 2006 — The back door to this country is unguarded, and the locks in place to protect it against terrorists are easy to pick.
Lawmakers and border security critics have repeatedly made this point, stressing the need for more funding, patrols and protection against illegal entry on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Officials are pointing to records in a South Texas drug case with alleged terrorist ties that they say underscores the lack of preparedness here.
The attorney for a jailed Gulf Cartel member cited in the incident, however, says his client was falsely accused of trying to smuggle Iraqi terrorists into this country. He maintains the claims were brought to increase the punishment for a drug offense against the accused.
The allegations are debated but the danger is real, warns U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz who believes federal lawmakers do not realize the exposure that exists on this porous international boundary.
“There is a huge disconnect between Washington and the border,” Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, said and called the security issue “alarming.”
‘Gente de Osama’
The January 2005 arrest of Noel Exinia and Cesario Nuñez appeared to be just another Drug Enforcement Administration bust on the border, until court documents in the case are examined more closely.
A few days before their arrest on federal cocaine trafficking charges, Exinia and Nuñez moved more than a quarter-ton of cocaine from Mexico through the Rio Grande Valley and on to New York City, the men told officials.
Nuñez, 33, pleaded guilty to a drug conspiracy charge in September. His sentencing is set for Thursday.
Exinia, 35, eventually pleaded guilty to the same charge. His sentencing is expected in March.
Court documents filed in Exinia’s case make frequent references to his position in the notorious Gulf Cartel. The paperwork also contains details of a December 2004 incident in which he tried to secure transportation for 20 Middle Eastern “terrorists” waiting to enter the United States from Monterrey, Chiapas and Puebla in Mexico.
Recorded telephone conversations authorized under the U.S. Patriot Act and a court order captured the La Feria truck driver referring to the 20 men as “gente de Osama” or “Osama’s people.”
During a Jan. 5, 2005, telephone conversation, Exinia described the men as “Iraqis,” ages 25 to 33, who were willing to pay $8,000 for transportation past Border Patrol checkpoints in South Texas and into the U.S. interior.
Exinia mentioned that eight of the men were coming to Progreso, northwest of Brownsville. He said they were “dangerous” and “really bad people.” They carried guns and made the smuggler that was helping them “afraid.”
Court records show that Exinia tried to employ a pilot — who turned out to be a confidential government source — to fly the men from the Valley to the northeastern United States.
Federal prosecutors declined to comment on the documents in Exinia’s case, citing his pending March sentencing.
Nancy Herrera with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said the documents filed in the case reflect the government’s position at the time they were filed.
“The pleadings are what they are and we have no further comment,” Herrera said.
‘A lot of hot air’
Exinia’s attorney John Blaylock said the FBI conducted a thorough investigation into the incident and cleared his client of any terrorism charges.
“This is an example of a lot of hot air with a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing,” Blaylock said.
He said that the references to terrorism were kept in the court documents to “vilify” his client so they could be used to increase the length of his sentence.
Court records show that Exinia’s former attorney William May successfully argued to keep all references to terrorism out the October trial.
At a sentencing hearing for another client in an unrelated case, May told The Brownsville Herald he believed the terrorist allegations against Exinia were “true.”
“Otherwise,” he said, “I wouldn’t have filed a motion to argue against it.”
Blaylock maintains the allegations are false and being used as a tool to justify “massive government spending” and a “power grab.”
“Terrorism is the flavor of the week,” Blaylock said. “If they could have, they would have charged him with terrorism to justify the Patriot Act that is coming up for renewal.”
The USA Patriot Act, first adopted shortly after 9/11, is meant to “deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes,” according to the version approved by Congress in October 2001. It provides for, among other things, enhanced surveillance procedures, protecting the border, removing obstacles to investigating terrorism and strengthening the criminal law against terrorism.
A Patriot Act extension, signed by the president on Dec. 30, keeps anti-terrorism laws that were due to expire Dec. 31 in place until Feb. 3.
The extension allows the FBI to continue to investigate terrorism cases using powers granted in 2001, including roving wiretaps and the authority to intercept wire, spoken and electronic communications relating to terrorism, The Associated Press reported.
FBI officials declined to publicly comment on the Exinia case. One federal law enforcement official that asked not to be named, said the men labeled “terrorists” turned out to be undocumented immigrants from a “nation of concern.”
The FBI would not say if the group made it across the border or if authorities have located or detained them.
‘A serious flaw’
While attorneys debate the existence of terrorists connected to the Exinia case, Ortiz, a former Nueces County sheriff, said information found in court documents underscores the U.S-Mexico border’s vulnerability to terrorist infiltration.
“It is very alarming” he said, holding a copy of the court papers.
“We know there are terrorist cells in the United States. These guys are coming through our back door.”
In fact, Border Patrol agents found Middle Eastern clothes and money in the South Texas brush, according to a federal report issued last year.
Ortiz said drug cartels and other criminal organizations, including the Central American gang, Mara Salvatruchas or MS-13, are dangerous enemies against U.S. security.
Similar to Exinia’s story about the 20 Iraqis he dealt with, Ortiz said Mexican and Central American criminal organizations are sought out to help smuggle terrorists into the United States.
“If they have the money, they’ll bring them across,” he said.
The presence and power of such organizations has long been known to Valley law enforcement but their threat to national security is lost on federal leaders and lawmakers, Ortiz said.
In one anecdote, the congressman said he attended a recent terrorism conference in Washington, D.C., in which FBI officials did not know about the Mara Salvatruchas — one of the most notorious organized crime outfits with documented links to al-Qaida.
“There is a serious flaw in communication,” Ortiz said. “We need to correct it.”
ping
I think I pinged this same article this AM or last night...
Not sure what the source was, though...
Yup...the poster modified the title.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1558447/posts
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