Welcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a FRink.
Will we hear. . .
Posted on 05/17/2007 2:40:25 PM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
Welcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a FRink.
Will we hear. . .
This guy on talking about social security/medicare/medicaid is a hot button. Even my dyed in the wool Democrat brother has mentioned this to me.
Fred Thompson has a golden opportunity coming out of the gate: Oppose the proposed immigration bill.
Tragically, the UK kid is still missing in Portugal:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=455458&in_page_id=1811&ct=5
Tony’s making his final US visit as PM:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,273193,00.html
Oh, and Mourinho got arrested over his dog:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=455186&in_page_id=1770
You couldn’t make it up!
“I am so mad I can’t type straight, I am making a zillion errors on every post.”
I feel your pain on that one.
The only candidates I will support call for deportation of all illegals.
Yhello! Yhello! Yhello!
Many more, my FRiend.
I figured as much.
I pray to God that Fred listens to this guy and comes out strong on this issue.
Mr MOguy took over the compuuter for the last hour, so I missed alot of Mark’s show. During that time, I listened to a local radio show (Dave Glover) and they were talking about this issue, and they are pissed. One thing they mentioned really rang true to me. The reason that we and the millions upon millions of American citizens don’t hit the streets to protest this, is that we are working, raising our kids and being responsible. I admit to not being on the front lines, for just that reason. However, now is the time, for me and all of you, to let these bastards know that we have had enough. I am serious, we are being SOLD OUT!!
I pledge that as of today, I will spend my time and money to get to any rally, any event to get through to our “leaders” that they have totally stolen the value of being an American citizen, it will, should this occur, be meaningless. Why the HELL should I work, to support the illegals??? WHY?????????????
Yes, I am pissed, and for any FR posters that wish to talk to me about that these people will provide them their SS check, Screw YOU!
MOgirl
Sounds neat got any great quotes?
Have you heard of the “Mainstream Republicans”? Word needs to get out on those folks.
Even Thompson’s statement had wiggle words, Lori.
“.....until after the border is secured”.
NOT SO MUCH, FRED!
NO AMNESTY FOR LAW BREAKERS!
All this for illegals while Scooter Libby sweats it out.
Oldies:
2005 July 26 Tuesday
Other Than Mexican Flood Increasing At US-Mexican Border
http://www.parapundit.com/archives/002913.html
New Crisis At U.S. Southern Border
Non-Mexican Illegal Immigrants Could Hit 150,000 This Year
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/26/national/main711912.shtml
Possible Al Qaeda infiltration worries FBI chief
Mark Sherman, Associated Press
March 9, 2005
WASHINGTON — FBI director Robert Mueller told Congress yesterday that people from countries with ties to Al Qaeda have crossed into the United States from Mexico, using false identities.
“We are concerned, homeland security is concerned about special interest aliens entering the United States,” Mueller said, using a term for people from countries where Al Qaeda is active.
Under persistent questioning from Representative John Culberson, Republican of Texas, Mueller said he was aware of one route that takes people to Brazil, where they assume false identities, and then to Mexico before crossing the US border.
He also said that in some instances people with Middle Eastern names have adopted Hispanic last names before trying to get into the United States.
Mueller provided no estimate of the number of people who have entered the country in this manner.
Bush administration officials have previously said Al Qaeda could try to infiltrate the United States through the Mexican border.
Middle Easterners Treated Like Other Illegals at Mexico Border
Human Events, Aug 9, 2004 by D’Agostino, Joseph A
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200408/ai_n9414388
A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border
http://www.davickservices.com/Line_In_Sand8.htm
Vulnerability to Terrorist Infiltration
The number of aliens other than Mexican (“OTMs”) illegally crossing the border has grown at an alarming rate over the past several years. Based on U.S. Border Patrol statistics there were 30,147 OTMs apprehended in FY2003, 44,614 in FY2004, 165,178 in FY2005, and 108,025 in FY2006. Most of them were apprehended along the U.S. Southwest border.
The sheer increase of OTMs coming across the border makes it more difficult for Border Patrol agents to readily identify and process each, thereby increasing the chances that a potential terrorist could slip through the system. Moreover, there is no concrete mechanism for determining how many OTMs evade apprehensions and successfully enter the country illegally.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pays particular attention to OTMs apprehended by the Border Patrol who originate from thirty-five nations designated as “special interest” countries. According to Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar, special interest countries have been “designated by our intelligence community as countries that could export individuals that could bring harm to our country in the way of terrorism.”
Though the majority of overall apprehensions made by the Border Patrol occur in the Tucson sector of Arizona, the Texas border – specifically the McAllen sector – far outpaces the rest of the country in OTM and Special Interest Alien apprehensions. Since September 11, 2001, DHS has reported a 41% increase in arrests along the Texas/Mexico border of Special Interest Aliens.
From FY2001 to March 2005, 88 percent of Special Interest Alien apprehensions for both
the Southwest and Northern borders occurred in Texas. During that same period, 75
percent of Special Interest Alien apprehensions on the Southwest border occurred in the
Laredo, McAllen, and Del Rio Sectors. Since September 11, 2001 to the present
hundreds of illegal aliens from special interest countries (such as Iran, Jordan, Lebanon,
Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan, Cuba, Brazil, Ecuador, China, Russia,
Yemen, Albania, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan) were apprehended within the South Texas region alone.
The data indicates that each year hundreds of illegal aliens from countries known to harbor terrorists or promote terrorism are routinely encountered and apprehended attempting to enter the U.S. illegally between Ports of Entry. Just recently, U.S. intelligence officials report that seven Iraqis were found in Brownsville, Texas in June 2006. In August 2006, an Afghani man was found swimming across the Rio Grande River in Hidalgo, Texas; as recently as October 2006, seven Chinese were apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley area of Texas.
Items have been found by law enforcement officials along the banks of the Rio Grande River and inland that indicate possible ties to a terrorist organization or member of military units of Mexico. A jacket with patches from countries where al Qa’ida is known to operate was found in Jim Hogg County, Texas by the Border Patrol. The patches on the jacket show an Arabic military badge with one depicting an airplane flying over a building and heading towards a tower, and another showing an image of a lion’s head with wings and a parachute emanating from the animal. The bottom of one patch read “martyr,” “way to eternal life” or “way to immortality.”
On January 28, 2006, Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar was asked by a reporter from KGNS television station in Laredo, Texas, about the outcome of the investigation of the jacket. Chief Aguilar responded that the patches were not from al Qa’ida but from countries in which al Qa’ida was known to operate.
According to ICE testimony, on September 8, 2004, ICE agents arrested Neeran Zaia and Basima Sesi. The human smuggling organization headed by Zaia specialized in smuggling Iraqi, Jordanian, and Syrian Nationals and was responsible for the movement of more than 200 aliens throughout the investigation The investigation was initiated when a confidential informant familiar with the organization reported ongoing smuggling activities by Zaia, who had been previously convicted of alien smuggling. Investigative efforts revealed that the aliens were smuggled from the Middle East to staging areas in Central and South America. Once in these staging areas, the conspirators would arrange to smuggle the aliens from these sites into the U.S. or its territories.
Members of Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terrorist organization, have already entered to the United States across our Southwest border. On March 1, 2005, Mahmoud Youssef Kourani pleaded guilty to providing material support to Hezbollah. Kourani is an illegal alien who had been smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border after bribing a Mexican consular official in Beirut for a visa to travel to Mexico. Kourani and a Middle Eastern traveling partner then paid coyotes in Mexico to guide them into the United States. Kourani established residence among the Lebanese expatriate community in Dearborn, Michigan and began soliciting funds for Hezbollah terrorists back home in Lebanon. He is the brother of the Hezbollah chief of military operations in southern Lebanon.
In December 2002, Salim Boughader Mucharrafille, a café owner in Tijuana, Mexico, was arrested for illegally smuggling more than two hundred Lebanese illegally into the United States, including several believed to have terrorist ties to Hezbollah. Just last month Robert L. Boatwright, Assistant Chief Patrol Agent of the El Paso Texas Sector, reported, “We have apprehended people from countries that support terrorism…they were thoroughly debriefed and there was a tremendous amount of information collected from them.”
Statements made by high-ranking Mexican officials prior to and following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks indicate that one or more Islamic terrorist organizations has sought to establish a presence in Mexico. In May 2001, former Mexican National security adviser and ambassador to the United Nations, Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, reported, that “Spanish and Islamic terrorist groups are using Mexico as a refuge.”
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller has confirmed in testimony “that there are individuals from countries with known al-Qa’ida connections who are changing their Islamic surnames to Hispanic-sounding names and obtaining false Hispanic identities, learning to speak Spanish and pretending to be Hispanic immigrants.
These examples highlight the dangerous intersection between traditional transnational criminal activities, such as human and drug smuggling, and more ominous threats to national security. Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez summed it up this way: “I dare to say that at any given time, daytime or nighttime, one can get on a boat and traverse back and forth between Texas and Mexico and not get caught. If smugglers can bring in tons of marijuana and cocaine at one time and can smuggle 20 to 30 persons at one time, one can just imagine how easy it would be to bring in 2 to 3 terrorists or their weapons of mass destruction across the river and not be detected. Chances of apprehension are very slim.
Furthermore, according to senior U.S. military and intelligence officials, Venezuela is emerging as a potential hub of terrorism in the Western Hemisphere, providing assistance to Islamic radicals from the Middle East and other terrorists.
General James Hill, commander of U.S. Southern Command, has warned the United States faces a growing risk from both Middle Eastern terrorists relocating to Latin America and terror groups originating in the region. General Hill said groups such as Hezbollah had established bases in Latin America. These groups are taking advantage of smuggling hotspots, such as the tri-border area of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, and Venezuela’s Margarita Island, to channel funds to terrorist groups around the world.
Venezuela is providing support—including identity documents—that could prove useful to radical Islamic groups, say some U.S. officials. The Venezuelan government has issued thousands of cedulas, the equivalent of Social Security cards, to people from places such as Cuba, Columbia, and Middle Eastern nations that host foreign terrorist organizations. The U.S. officials believe that the Venezuelan government is issuing the documents to people who should not be getting them and that some of these cedulas could be subsequently used to obtain Venezuelan passports and even American visas, which could allow the holder to elude immigration checks and enter the United States. Recently, several Pakistanis were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexican border with fraudulent Venezuelan documents.
“Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, has been clearly talking to Iran about uranium,” said a senior administration official quoted by the Washington Times. Chavez has made several trips to Iran and voiced solidarity with the country’s hard-line mullahs. He has hosted Iranian officials in Caracas, endorsed Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and expressed support for the insurgency in Iraq. The Times reports Venezuela is also talking with Hamas about sending representatives to Venezuela to raise money for the militant group’s newly elected Palestinian government as Chavez seeks to build an anti-U.S. axis that also includes Fidel Castro’s Cuba. “I am on the offensive,” Chavez said on the al Jazeera television network, “because attack is the best form of defense. We are waging an offensive battle….”
Given all that is happening in Chavez’s Venezuela, some American officials regret that terrorism is seen chiefly as a Middle East problem and that the United States needs to look looking to protect its southern flank. A U.S. intelligence official expressed concern that “Counterterrorism issues are not being aggressively pursued in this hemisphere.” Another intelligence official stated terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay are not being interrogated about connections to Latin America. The bottom line, when it comes to terrorism so close to U.S. shores, says the official, “We don’t even know what we don’t know.”
Islamic radical groups that support Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamiya Al Gamat are all active in Latin America. These groups generate funds through money laundering, drug trafficking, and arms deals, making millions of dollars every year via their multiple illicit activities. These cells reach back to the Middle East and extend to this hemisphere the sophisticated global support structure of international terrorism. While threats to our nation from international terrorism are well known, lesser known threats spawned by narcoterrorism reach deeply into this country.
Federal law enforcement entities estimate they apprehend approximately 10 to 30 percent of illegal aliens crossing the border. U.S. intelligence officials along the southwest border, on the other hand, are less optimistic. To be sure, it is unclear how many illegal aliens of any nationality evade capture by law enforcement each year and succeed in entering the United States illegally. It is especially difficult to provide the total number of Special Interest Aliens entering the U.S. illegally because they pay larger amounts of money ($15,000 to $60,000 per alien) to employ the more effective Mexican alien smuggling organizations and are less likely to be apprehended.
One thing, however, is known for certain – hundreds of people from countries known to harbor terrorists or promote terrorism are caught trying to enter the United States illegally along the land border, and the massive flow of immigrants and our porous border create various and abundant opportunities for concealment. Given the ever-present threat posed by al-Qa’ida and other terrorist organizations – a threat that has been underscored by the recent events in London and the vulnerability of our borders – the need for immediate action to enforce our borders could not be more apparent.
From Rick Perry’s (TX) site:
Overview: The Border Threat
Al-Qaeda leadership plans to use criminal alien smuggling organizations to bring terrorist operatives across the border into the U.S. A vulnerable border also gives terrorists opportunities to smuggle weapons of mass destruction into the U.S. undetected. There can be no homeland security in Texas without border security.
Illegal aliens from countries other than Mexico-known as OTMs-are flowing across the Texas-Mexico border at alarming rates. According to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, more than 119,000 OTMs were apprehended in 2005 from January through July. An unknown number were never detected or apprehended. The McAllen Border Patrol Sector alone, which includes Brownsville, Harlingen and McAllen and 316 border miles, reports that it has apprehended more than 47,600 OTMs thus far in 2005.
OTMs of particular concern are from countries with a known al-Qaeda presence such as Iraq, Iran, Indonesia and Bangladesh, and the Triborder region of Latin America which lies between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. The Triborder Region is a focal point of Islamic extremism.
Border security is aggravated by the lack of federal detention space. Rather than being detained until an immigration court hearing, some OTMs are released on their own recognizance with orders to appear at a deportation hearing. In the McAllen Border Patrol Sector, more than 42,000 OTMs have been released in 2005 and the majority fail to appear in court. No show rates are almost 90% in Harlingen. The newly expanded federal Expedited Return policy to repatriate OTMs who have spent less than 14 days in the United States and are apprehended within 100 miles of the border is a step toward addressing this security gap. However, many OTMs apprehended further inland and more than two weeks after their entry continue to pose a significant threat to Texas.
In addition to posing a threat to national security, the unsecured border threatens public safety. Local law enforcement has long been overwhelmed along the border. Events in Nuevo Laredo illustrate how powerful Mexican drug trafficking organizations torture, kidnap and murder on both sides of the border to support their operations. The Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang is now operating in Texas and is engaged in violent crime on both sides of the border. MS-13 is a violent street gang founded by Salvadorans in Los Angeles in the 1980’s. MS-13 has expanded to an estimated 10,000 members in 33 states in the U.S. and a further 50,000 members in Latin America.
The citizens who live along the border suffer the daily consequences of drug-related violence, robbery, burglary and theft. These armed criminal organizations also prey upon aliens who cross the border in search of employment.
Policy Framework
Two-thirds (1,240 miles) of the U.S.-Mexico border lies in Texas. Until the border is secured, international terrorists, organized crime and violent gangs, such as MS-13, will continue to place Texans at risk.
Our neighbors to the south face the same threats. Recent events in Nuevo Laredo illustrate that residents on both sides of the border are at a great risk of violent crimes.
Legitimate commerce and travel between Mexico and the United States is vital to the Texas and U.S. economies. Travel and trade must not be slowed by threats from terrorist and criminal organizations.
New technologies at ports of entry increase the speed of commerce and travel and strengthen our security. Texas fully supports federal efforts to expand the use of technology at the border.
Lawmakers and the public have called for several federal initiatives to increase border security, to include:
Hire 10,000 more border and custom patrol agents
Substantially expand immigration detention facilities, in order to eliminate the “catch and release” policy that increases security threats in Texas communities
Expand the use of technology at and between the ports of entry, including US-VISIT and use of the Predator
Establish a volunteer program within U.S. Customs and Border Patrol
Texas supports all of the above federal initiatives, but they will take time to implement. We must move quickly to reduce the threat from international terrorists, organized crime and gangs who exploit the border. Texas also recommends the following immediate federal actions:
Designate the border a high-threat area, making local agencies along the border eligible for additional homeland security funds.
Authorize the use of homeland security funding to pay for law enforcement positions and overtime to expand patrols in the border region.
http://www.governor.state.tx.us/priorities/other/border/border_security/view
COMING TO AMERICA
‘Arab terrorists’
crossing border
Middle Eastern illegals find easy entrance into U.S. from Mexico
Posted: October 19, 2001
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24987
Other than Mexicans (very interesting)
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid%3A60078
Check out the Keywords
‘Yhello!
John Bolton 08!
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