http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=14021%207Politicians, politicos, policy chiefs and agency heads have gone to great lengths to convince Americans that, since the devastating Sept. 11 attacks, border security around our perimeters has been "enhanced."
In fact, President Bush just signed a new bill – the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act – that mandates the hiring of 400 new INS inspectors; raises Border Patrol pay; creates a suspect terrorist database at each port of entry; and requires visitors to carry papers that contain biometric technology, such as fingerprint and retina scans.
Sounds like our government is finally getting serious about border security, doesn't it? Well, before you relax in the summer sun with a six-pack, you should know that there are lots of voices down on the border who aren't as enthused about the promises contained in this latest Washington attempt to "fix" border security.
Real people who live in our increasingly congested and dangerous border areas have seen numerous prior administrative efforts allegedly aimed at "tightening" security. Few have helped. Most have failed miserably.
Indeed, say border residents, illegal traffic streaming into the U.S. has increased over the past decade, though our government is spending billions more on "security."
About the only real change, say seasoned observers, has been an increase in bureaucracy. And while that red tape occupies the time of our border security personnel, droves of illegal immigrants and terrorists are getting in.
A source within the Immigration and Naturalization Service tells me things haven't changed much down on the border, even since the Sept. 11 attacks. He says it's business as usual – meaning that the influx of illegal immigrants (and potential terrorists) is continuing relatively unabated.
"Can you find out why the Social Security agency won't allow INS access to its information databases?" he asked last week. "Can you find out why – even though President Bush signed (the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act), INS Commissioner James Ziglar has said he won't implement it?
"Congress has authorized plenty of funds for INS to change, but management has resisted it every step of the way," he said.
This multi-year veteran of the INS, however, is quick to point out that Congress is not blameless. Lawmakers often "espouse reform but secretly defang effective legislation" and "have for decades."
Couple this with a new report from the Center for Immigration Studies, which explains how terrorists have exploited our lax border security and immigration laws since 1993, and you begin to get the idea that our leaders are more worried about hurting feelings than losing buildings, airliners and American lives.
This new report "examines the immigration status not only of the Sept. 11 hijackers but of all 48 foreign-born radical Muslim terrorists, almost all of them linked to al-Qaida, who have been charged, convicted or admitted involvement in terrorism in the United States since 1993."
Titled, "The Open Door: How Militant Islamic Terrorists Entered and Remained in the United States, 1993-2001," the report "contains immigration histories for each of the 48 terrorists."
"Contrary to claims that foreign terrorists have come only as temporary visitors, research indicates that they have manipulated almost every possible means of admission to the United States," says the report.
"Some have indeed come as students, tourists and business travelers; others, however, have been Lawful Permanent Residents and naturalized U.S. citizens; while yet others have snuck across the border, arrived as stowaways on ships, used false passports, been granted amnesty, or been applicants for political asylum," the findings indicate.
For the next several weeks I'll be asking readers for more of these kinds of stories. Part of our border insecurity problem, I'm convinced, is that many of our leaders may not be getting the straight scoop from the people who deal with the problems of illegal immigration first-hand, on a 24-7 basis – INS agents, Border Patrol officials and residents and ranchers of border communities.
Topic: Border security follies (Read 1076 times)