People Crossing Border From Terrorism-Related Countries

Terrorists have been arrested on the border, security chief says
The Monitor
DALLAS
Texas’ top homeland security official said Wednesday that terrorists with ties to Hezbollah, Hamas and al-Qaida have been arrested crossing the Texas border with Mexico in recent years.

“Has there ever been anyone linked to terrorism arrested?” Texas Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw said in a speech to the North Texas Crime Commission. “Yes, there was.”

His remarks appear to be among the most specific on the topic of terrorism arrests along the Texas-Mexico border. Local and elected officials have alluded to this happening but have been short on details.
Leticia Zamarripa, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in El Paso, said Wednesday she was unaware of any border arrests of people with terrorist ties. An ICE spokeswoman in San Antonio did not return phone messages left by The Associated Press. U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Lloyd M. Easterling was unable to comment.
However, McCraw’s remarks are similar to those made recently by National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, who last month told the El Paso Times that a small number of people with known links to terrorist organizations have been caught crossing the border.
McCraw identified the most notable figure captured as Farida Goolam Mahomed Ahmed, who was arrested in July 2004 at the McAllen airport. She carried $7,300 in various currencies and a South African passport with pages missing. Federal officials later learned she waded across the Rio Grande.
After her arrest, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a release saying she was wanted for questioning about the bombing of a U.S. Consulate office, jibing with similar statements from a U.S. congressman.
But the department quickly retracted the terrorism connection, calling it “inaccurate on several levels.” Michael Shelby, then the U.S. attorney in Houston, said in January 2005 that any suggestion Ahmed was involved in terrorism “is in error.”
According to federal court records, Ahmed pleaded guilty to improper entry by an alien, making a false statement and false use of a passport. She was sentenced to time served and deported to South Africa. Other details of the case were sealed.
But on Wednesday, McCraw described Ahmed as having ties to an insurgent group in Pakistan and whose specialty was smuggling Afghanis and other foreign nationals across the border.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Michael Friel could not confirm details about Ahmed on Wednesday.
McCraw also said that since March 2006, 347 people from what he called “terrorism-related countries” have been arrested crossing the border in Texas. The number of Iraqis captured at the border has tripled since last year, he said.

“A porous border without question is a national security threat,” he said.

“Terrorism isn’t the only concern for homeland security officials in Texas, McCraw said. The state’s size, population and geography make it susceptible to all sorts of disasters, both natural and man-made. Emergency responders must also be prepared for natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and wildfires,” he said.

The state has made significant strides in emergency planning since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Hurricane Rita, McCraw said. Plans include cooperating with large private companies, including grocery stores, Wal-Mart and the oil industry, to help the state respond during disasters.

“This is not a shot at FEMA, but we can’t depend on FEMA to protect Texas,” McCraw said. “The governor’s mandate has made it clear: If those buses don’t come, we better have our own buses. If that food doesn’t come,we better have our own food. If that water doesn’t come, we better have our own water to take care of Texas.”

Good grief………….
FBI’s Mueller: Hezbollah Busted in Mexican Smuggling Operation
newsmax

FBI Director Robert Mueller said this week that his agency busted a smuggling ring organized by the terrorist group Hezbollah that had operatives cross the Mexican border to carry out possible terrorist attacks inside the U.S.
“This was an occasion in which Hezbollah operatives were assisting others with some association with Hezbollah in coming to the United States,” Mueller told a House Appropriations subcommittee during a Tuesday hearing on the FBI’s budget.
In a stunning revelation, Mueller admitted that Hezbollah had succeeded in smuggling some of its operatives across the border, telling the House committee: “That was an organization that we dismantled and identified those persons who had been smuggled in. And they have been addressed as well.”
Hezbollah was responsible for the single most deadly terrorist attack against the U.S. before 9/11 – the Oct. 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 243 U.S. troops.
In November, an al-Qaida operative who was on the FBI’s terrorist watch list was captured near the Mexican border, housed in a Texas jail and turned over to federal agents, according to Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas.
“A confirmed al-Qaida terrorist, an Iraqi national, was held in the Brewster County jail,” Rep. Culberson told ABC Radio host Sean Hannity. “He was captured in Mexico. This was within the last six weeks. He was turned over to the FBI.”

Wild Thing’s comment……..
What do they expect? Why should terrorists try to come in legally when they can just walk across the border and no one’s the wiser?
This is what we’ve been saying all along but would they believe those of us who live on the border? Nooooooooooooo!