Immigration strategy: Politically correct and dangerous

By Ilana Freedman / Local Columnist

Friday, July 30, 2004

As part of my regular work, I continually sift through mountains of news stories, e-mails, blogs, and chatter. My job is to evaluate the material and identify evolving trends in our new and often frightening post-9/11 world.

This week one of the most startling items to appear in my inbox was an article called, "Breaking the Silence Over a Possible Imminent Threat." The article appeared in "Pravda.RU", the English website of the famous Russian publication. It was about the ceaseless flow of illegal immigrants over Mexico's border into Arizona and the threat that this poses to American security.

The source of the story was a small town newspaper in south eastern Arizona called the "Tombstone Tumbleweed." The paper is owned and published by Chris Simcox, a former school teacher who has taken time off from his teaching career to "make a difference."

The article presented the startling information that the border area known as the Naco Strip has become "a primary route of illegal entry by significant numbers of Arabic-speaking males." The article went on to say, "The porous frontier... is beginning to look a lot like the left lane on a European Autobahn. It doesn't take a master spy to conclude that we may be seeing a large-scale influx of al Qaeda terrorists into the country."

Like many Americans living near the border, Simcox is simply fed up with the apparent ease with which this flow of humanity goes on, unabated, trashing the countryside, polluting the local environment, and putting an enormous economic burden on the communities of the southeastern United States.

According to Simcox, the trail of debris and human excrement is so catastrophic that it can actually be seen from the air. The additional knowledge that many of these illegal border crossers may be terrorists is more than just troubling, it is downright alarming.

Intrigued by the Pravda article, I called Chris Simcox to learn more and we spoke at length. He is an American patriot with a huge store of plain old common sense and a passion for doing the right thing. He is also a repository for a wealth of information about the problem of illegal immigration.

He told me that between October 1, 2003 and July 15, 2004 over 420,000 illegal immigrants have been caught crossing the 2,000 mile border between Mexico and the United States. Over 5,500 of those arrested have been designated OTMs ('Other Than Mexicans' or non-Hispanics) by US Border Patrol agents. The agents refuse to reveal how many of the OTMs apprehended come from terrorist supporting countries, but the number is thought to be considerable.

The official position is that the number of illegals from the Middle East is extremely small. But one agent gave the Tombstone Tumbleweed a striking example of what is really happening along the border. He said that six weeks earlier, agents came upon a group of 158 illegal border crossers. Only 71 of these illegals were caught, including 53 men of Middle Eastern origin, whose English was limited and who conversed among themselves in Arabic. The agent suggested they were probably from Syria or Iran (both on America's list of terror-supporting countries).

Later that month, another group of 24 Arabic-speaking men were apprehended, while at least the same number of their comrades escaped into the countryside on the American side of the border.

It is not clear whether the reluctance of the government to more clearly define the nationalities of the OTMs is because, as they claim, our national security requires it or rather because it is 'politically correct' to do so. The deeper problem lies in the fact that the Border Patrol stops less than one third of the illegal immigrants who cross the border. That means that at least 1.2 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border from Mexico in the last nine and a half months, an average of 4,166 every day. Of these, more than 16,000 have been OTMs, a number which includes an apparently significant number of Arabic-speaking men.

Why are large numbers of men from Middle Eastern countries entering the US illegally from Mexico? Why are their numbers being blurred and minimized by officials? And what does it mean for America's national security?

The possibility that potential terrorists are pouring into the country through our insecure borders is one that raises reasonable concern. Our preoccupation with political correctness that drives us to welcome these 'refugees' and give them a chance to realize the 'American dream,' is being taken to its illogical extreme, and is putting us at grave risk.

We are, as I have mentioned before, at war. The possibility that large numbers of men from Middle Eastern countries enter the country illegally and then disappear among us, perhaps to be given new (false) identities and join the sleeper cells that already exist in our communities, should make us more than a little uneasy.

While the world continues to condemn Israel's security fence, the United States would do well to move forward to build such a fence along our own porous and dangerous borders. Where secure fences already exist, entrance by illegals has been dramatically reduced. But they cover only limited lengths of a very long border.

The seriousness of the problem goes far beyond the high cost and inconvenience of illegal immigration from migrant workers and drug runners. That there is an alarmingly high level of traffic comprised of Middle Eastern men should send warning signals to the highest levels of our government and prompt an immediate and highly visible response.

America is vulnerable at many levels. When political correctness conflicts with national interest, we need to rethink our social strategy. A strong response to those who would use our own systems against us is the best chance we have at maintaining our national security and ensuring a safer future in the face of the continuing threat.

(Ilana Freedman is a specialist in counterterrorism and Managing Partner of Gerard Group International. She welcomes your comments at ilana@gerardgroup.com.)

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