Fox Pulse: Terrorists being smuggled in from Mexico

Fox News via American Patrol Report ^ | July 11, 2002 | Geraldo Rivera

[spycatcher]

If you missed the new Fox Pulse newsmagazine's 9-month exclusive investigation, here's a streaming audio link...

Fox Pulse audio link

It's estimated that 500,000 of unknown national origin have crossed over the border with Mexico since 9-11-01.

And from the following article some agents estimate 10% are now from he Middle East..

'Arab terrorists' crossing border: Middle Eastern illegals find easy entrance into U.S. from Mexico

And here's a related article from a few months back

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Iraqi reportedly smuggled hundreds from Middle East across Mexican border

New York Times News Service
Oct. 25, 2001 10:05:00

EL PASO - An Iraqi-born smuggler led hundreds of illegal immigrants from the Middle East across the Mexican border into the United States in the 1990s, prosecution documents filed in a federal conspiracy trial here say.

The Iraqi, George Tajirian, who forged an alliance with a Mexican immigration officer, smuggled Palestinian, Jordanian, Syrian, Iraqi, Yemeni and other undocumented immigrants through Mexico and into the United States, sending them to wade across the Rio Grande or pass border checkpoints with counterfeit travel documents from Greece, Mexico and other nations, the prosecutors said.

Tajirian appears to have had no political or other agenda, and prosecutors have provided no evidence that any of the people smuggled by him had terrorist ties. But prosecutors said he had paid little heed to whether his clients were criminals, merely raising his smuggling fees when he became aware of such complications.

The record of prosecution proceedings against Tajirian and Angel Molina Paramo, the Mexican official who prosecutors say was a major confederate, suggest that the Mexican border has been a thoroughfare for hundreds of Middle Eastern migrants crossing illegally into the United States.

Tajirian, who is a naturalized Mexican citizen, was arrested in Miami in 1998, pleaded guilty to smuggling undocumented foreigners in a plea agreement that erased conspiracy and other charges, and is serving a 13-year sentence. Molina was extradited to Texas this spring. A federal judge here accepted his guilty plea last week, also the result of a plea bargain, and sentencing is set for next month. Tajirian's wife, who is a Mexican citizen, and a fourth suspect, a Lebanese woman who ran Tajirian's travel agency in Quito, Ecuador, are fugitives.

The documents pertaining to Tajirian's smuggling operations were presented to the court as part of the case against Molina and the two fugitives. Among the documents was one in which prosecutors said they collected evidence on 132 illegal immigrants Tajirian smuggled into the United States from 1996 through 1998.

The prosecutors estimated that since he began to build his smuggling organization in 1980 he had led more than 1,000 Middle East natives across the southwest frontier.

Tajirian showed "no scruples" in deciding whom he would smuggle into the United States, Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Brandy Gardes wrote in a brief before Tajirian's sentencing in 1998. One citizen of Yemen whom Tajirian brought to the U.S. in December 1997 was wanted for genocide in South Yemen, the prosecutors said. Tajirian, the prosecutors said, was aware of this and, accordingly, raised his fee. A Syrian native who was smuggled across the frontier in September 1996 had a criminal record in Germany.

"The tightening of our borders and our internal security," Gardes wrote, "is a priority and the desire of the American public. The defendant's criminal activity, through its sheer magnitude and cavalier attitude, struck deeply at these goals."

In documents presented to the court, prosecutors said Tajirian routinely charged clients $10,000 to $15,000 or more. They documented earnings of $230,000 from 1996 through 1998, and estimated that he grossed as much as $2 million during that period. Prosecutors say Tajirian is 60 years old. He says he is 70.

Statistics gathered by the Immigration and Naturalization Service suggest that citizens from countries with majority Islamic populations seek to gain entry to the United States illegally much more frequently at the Canadian border. Last year, American agents detained 254 undocumented immigrants, from 16 Middle Eastern countries, Sudan, Pakistan and Malaysia, at Canadian border checkpoints, according to the INS statistics.

By contrast, at the Mexican border, agents detained 90 undocumented immigrants last year from countries with majority Islamic populations: Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Pakistan. The Mideast migrants were moving in a human tide that was overwhelmingly Latin. Some 99.9 percent of the 1.64 million undocumented immigrants detained at the southwest border last year were from Mexico and 16 other Latin countries.

The documents presented here detail more than any other case the nature of the smuggling pipeline by which illegal Middle Eastern immigrants cross the Southwestern border.

Tajirian, who was born in Baghdad, came to the United States and settled in Detroit, where he was convicted in the late 1970s for illegal possession of visas and served eight months in prison. Almost immediately after his release, Tajirian began building his smuggling network, prosecutors said.

He recruited Middle Eastern clients in Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Greece, the prosecutors said, and he established travel agencies in Havana and Mexico City as well as Quito. In a typical smuggling transaction, Tajirian would recruit his clients, arrange lodging for them in Greece, Havana, Quito and Mexico City, and eventually arrange for local smugglers in northern Mexico to bring them into the United States, usually at El Paso or Laredo in Texas or through Tijuana, south of San Diego.

[spycatcher]

I agree Geraldo can screw-up, but in this case he has everything on video. As far as the 500,000 estimate, you need to get informed if you think that's high. It was actually a non-arguable lowball number to start with. It's probably closer to 2 million than 500K.

Try looking at these stats from Marine Inspector:

In the first 8 months of FY 2002 (October 2001 - May 2002) the U.S. Border Patrol made 636,471 apprehensions.

The Border Patrol estimates that they apprehend approximately 25% of the illegal aliens crossing into the United States. That means 3 illegal aliens get through for every 1 apprehended.

Independent Immigration experts estimate that the Border Patrol apprehends only 10% of the illegal aliens crossing into the United States. That means 9 illegal aliens get through for every 1 apprehension.

For this presentation, I will use the Border Patrol estimate of 25%. If the Border Patrol has apprehended 636,471 illegal aliens in the past 8 months, the number of illegal aliens that made it into the United States undetected would be approximately 1,909,413.

This is an average of over 7,500 illegal aliens entering the United States, from Mexico, undetected daily.

Here are some numbers to help put this into perspective:

US and Allied troops that invaded Normandy in 1944 = 250,000+ US troops that invaded Okinawa in 1945 = 550,000+ Illegal aliens that have invaded the United States since October 1st 2001 = 1,870,932+

[habaes corpussel]

I have seen these stats. My problem is the source of these numbers. This is a politically charged issue on both sides. One is the actual incursion and other is a funding issue for the Boarder Patrol. I do not doubt that we have a very serious boarder incursion problem. But these incursion numbers are not verified, they are estimates based on assumptions. This does not mean we actually have 7,500 daily-undetected incursions. I hate when we play these types of number games. Yes it’s a serious problem. But I have a real problem with the basis for the assumptions.

[spycatcher]

The estimates in my opinion are reliable in that they come from the people who's job it is not to allow people in. They have no incentive to inflate numbers. And anyone who works the border can tell you that it's completely out of control and that with current resources and rules we can only make token efforts to stop people.

I forgot to mention there may be a larger percentage of illegals from Asia than the Middle East. But that's no consolation when you consider that Al Qaeda is based there as well.

[Marine Inspector]

Your Welcome.

Here is the latest:

FY 2001 SOUTHWEST BORDER APPREHENSIONS

by Country of Citizenship

COUNTRY	TOTALS	COUNTRY	TOTALS	COUNTRY	TOTALS
AFGHANISTAN	15	GUATEMALA	4,586	PALESTINE	2
ALBANIA	198	GUINEA	1	PANAMA	10
ALGERIA	2	GUYANA	1	PARAGUAY	14
ANGOLA	3	HAITI	4	PERU	189
ARGENTINA	30	HONDURAS	8,6804	PHILIPPINES	33
ARMENIA	13	HONG KONG	1	POLAND	300
AUSTRALIA	4	HUNGARY	13	PORTUGAL	2
AZERBAIJAN	1	INDIA	177	QATAR	6
BAHAMAS	1	INDONESIA	3	ROMANIA	23
BAHRAIN	1	IRAN	19	RUSSIA	31
BANGLADESH	7	IRAQ	3	SAUDI ARABIA	2
BELGIUM	1	IRELAND	2	SIERRA LEONE	1
BELIZE	33	ISRAEL	13	SINGAPORE	1
BOLIVIA	31	ITALY	8	SLOVAKIA	22
BRAZIL	3,105	IVORY COAST	1	SOMALIA	4
BULGARIA	93	JAMAICA	18	SOUTH AFRICA	8
BURMA	1	JAPAN	7	SOUTH KOREA	33
BYELARUS	4	JORDAN	20	SPAIN	1
CANADA	20	KAMPUCHEA	1	SRI LANKA	16
CHILE	101	KAZAKHSTAN	7	ST. LUCIA	1
CHINA (PRC)	249	KENYA	3	SUDAN	2
COLOMBIA	292	KUWAIT	2	SWEDEN	1
CONGO	1	LAOS	3	SYRIA	19
COSTA RICA	145	LEBANON	35	TANZANIA	1
CUBA	213	LIBERIA	2	THAILAND	3
CZECH REPUBLIC	13	LITHUANIA	15	TOGO	1
CZECHOSLOVAKIA	3	MACEDONIA	25	TONGA	5
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	426	MALAYSIA	3	TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO	5
ECUADOR	1,418	MALI	1	TUNISIA	7
EGYPT	79	MAURITANIA	1	TURKEY	15
EL SALVADOR	8,464	MEXICO	1,205,389	UGANDA	1
ETHIOPIA	5	MOLDOVA	2	UKRAINE	74
FINLAND	1	MONGOLIA	2	UNITED ARAB EMIRATES	1
FRANCE	5	MOROCCO	8	UNITED KINGDOM	21
GABON	1	NEPAL	1	URUGUAY	6
GAMBIA	1	NEW ZEALAND	7	UZBEKISTAN	9
GEORGIA	26	NICARAGUA	597	VENEZUELA	37
GERMANY	9	NIGERIA	15	VIETNAM	7
GHANA	3	NORTH KOREA	2	YEMEN	5
GREECE	1	NORWAY	1	YUGOSLAVIA	41
GRENADA	1	PAKISTAN	46	ZIMBABWE	2

[spycatcher]

I guess the whole world knows the secret entrance. Now would people who pay thousands of bucks to be escorted by pros have less chance of being caught? Meaning poor Mexican workers who just wander across hoping not to die from dehydration would probably tend to be nabbed more often than the wealthy.

[PRND21]

Personally I thought the part about the Mexican military "trying to do something about it and help the U.S." was bunk...

I'm shocked.

[PRND21]

I guess the whole world knows the secret entrance.

Do you propose a wall along that Canadian border?

[spycatcher]

Yeah a 3000 mile wall along Canada is what we've been discussing in this thread. Hello?

The solution is the military properly defending our borders, especially with Mexico. Border patrol can then be reassigned up north.

[Marine Inspector]

Now would people who pay thousands of bucks to be escorted by pros have less chance of being caught?

I would have to say yes. Money can get you good counterfeit or even legitimate documents and better help.

[PRND21]

Border patrol can then be reassigned up north.

They didn't do too well up North last time. That's the border of choice.
Why do some insist on blaming the Southern border?

[Joe Hadenuf]

Why do some insist on blaming the Southern border?

Oh, the southern border? You mean the border where millions upon millions have invaded our nation from God knows where? The southern border where the equivilant of a major city worth of people a year, spit on our sovereignty and crash our borders routinely?

I can't imagine why anyone would look to our southern border as a threat of any kind.

[PRND21]

If the terrorists came from the south we all would of needed spittle guards for our monitors.
It's easy to read the frustration and disapointment you feel regarding the Canandian border being used by th 9/11 terrorists.
What's more important "According to Joe Hadenuf", your agenda or truth?

[Joe Hadenuf]

Oh, the southern border? You mean the border where millions upon millions have invaded our nation from God knows where? The southern border where the equivilant of a major city worth of people a year, spit on our sovereignty and crash our borders routinely?

I can't imagine why anyone would look to our southern border as a threat of any kind.

What's more important "According to Joe Hadenuf", your agenda or truth?

Oh, it's my little personal agenda. These are all lies. You caught me, there really is no threat from our southern border. It's really not an issue. I am just bored and want something to do.

[PRND21]

You caught me, there really is no threat from our southern border. It's really not an issue. I am just bored and want something to do.

Of course there is a threat. Security has been tightened. (I get the feeling you don't go to Mexico much)
I hope it is tight enough, do you?

[Joe Hadenuf]

I get the feeling you don't go to Mexico much

Oh no, we go down there all the time. But instead of going to the tourist spots, I like to go to the real towns in the middle of no where, We generally rent a bunch of donkys and cruise the dirt roads, and buy some of those m-80 firecrackers and throw them at chickens. You know see the real country and have a lot of fun.