Washington Times article: Border Patrol grabs 1.15 million illegals in '04

By Michael Cutler

We are all familiar with humor based on "good news / bad news" however when dealing with the borders of our nation, especially as we prosecute a war on terror as well as a war on drugs, there is nothing humorous. The Washington Times story at the surface, appears to offer good news. The good news is that the apprehension of illegal aliens by the Border Patrol has increased by 24% over the preceding year and that some 1.62 billion dollars worth of narcotics were interdicted and seized by elements of CBP (Customs and Border Protection) last year. The bad news is that generally more illegal aliens evade apprehension than are caught. If apprehensions are up, it can be presumed the number of illegal aliens entering the U.S. has also increased. The same can be said of narcotics seizures. We must also consider what ultimately happened to the aliens who were apprehended. Because of the Border Patrol's 'catch and release' program in which apprehended illegal aliens are often permitted to travel to the city to which they were destined at the time they were arrested with instructions to report to the immigration authorities in that city for a removal hearing. Not surprisingly, only a very small percentage of these aliens actually turn themselves in. Porous borders leave our nation vulnerable to terrorists.

This article shows the fact that on a daily basis, thousands of aliens are attempting to enter the United States with malevolent intentions. According to this article, on average, each day, some 3,100 aliens attempt to enter the United States without being inspected. This represents a 24% increase over the number of aliens who were apprehended the previous year. It is not unreasonable to assume that there has been a comparable increase in the number of illegal aliens who succeed in evading the Border Patrol and entering the United States, more than likely, making their way into the interior of the United States. The statistics noted in this report point to an even more worrisome fact; each day many criminals attempt to enter the United States who have serious criminal histories and consequently, affiliation with criminal organizations that may threaten our nation�s security and well being. The fact that drugs seized have an estimated street value of $1.62 billion dollars is further cause for alarm. There is a link between criminal activities, especially drug trafficking as a means of financing other criminal activities including terrorism. Terrorists require money in order to carry out their deadly missions and drug trafficking and money laundering go hand-in-hand with the objective of generating funds for the malevolent goals of terrorists.

We know how much was seized, just as we know how many would-be illegal aliens were arrested. We do not know, however, how many illegal aliens actually have made it into the United States and how many of these have criminal histories and/or criminal intentions. We similarly do not know the street value of the narcotics that were successfully smuggled into the United States, nor do we know whose coffers are being filled by the trafficking of this deadly cargo. Consider a recent Wall Street Journal article, published on December 30, 2003 about an investigation of the Bank of America and other financial institutions into possible money laundering activities by customers of that bank. The article begins by reporting on Carnival French Ice Cream, a tiny Brooklyn ice-cream shop that played a major role in al Qaeda's global fund-raising operation. It sold little ice-cream from its ground-floor store in a four-story walk-up in the Park Slope neighborhood. Its real function, according to the government, was to move money.

The shop took in $22 million between 1997 and 2003, the Justice Department alleges in federal court filings in New York. Prosecutors believe that Carnival diverted much of that money to a radical sheik in Yemen working with Osama bin Laden. The funds were moved from New York via the most modern and efficient method the American financial-services industry has to offer: an account at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

Consider also that this article noted that Robert Morgenthau, the District Attorney for Manhattan has found that a number of banks has moved hundreds of millions of dollars between New York and Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil at the behest of obscure firms in the British Virgin Islands, a well-known financial-secrecy haven.

According to American and Brazilian officials, much of the money appears to have come from a lawless enclave known as the Tri-Border Area, a free-trade zone on the borders of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The officials say the area is dominated by organized criminal groups, including narcotics traffickers and people raising money -- by means of smuggling and copyright piracy -- for the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah. American and Brazilian investigators are looking at whether the big banks made an effort to determine how small firms in Uruguay and Paraguay could possibly have taken in so much cash from legitimate commerce. The investigators are also examining whether the banks inquired into the ownership of the British Virgin Islands companies.

The item posted by Andrew Cochran earlier today about the fact that, "On January 10, the American Bankers Association and all state banking associations, plus Puerto Rico's, co-signed a letter to the heads of the federal financial regulatory agencies - Treasury (and its quasi-independent components FinCEN, OCC, and OTS), Federal Reserve Board, and FDIC - to request more consistency in examinations for Bank Secrecy Act compliance�� shows that responsible executives in that critical industry understand the significance of controlling the movement of money across international borders as an important component of fighting crime and terrorism.

Clearly our inspectors and Border Patrol agents have been busy trying to protect our borders against illegal immigration and narcotics but is this good enough? We need to back up the efforts on our nation�s borders with sufficient numbers of special agents of ICE who are assigned to enforcing our nation�s immigration laws from within the interior of the United States. Those who evade the Border Patrol or succeed in getting past the inspections process need to be sought by special agents of the bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). At present fewer than 2,500 special agents of ICE are routinely enforcing these critical immigration laws from within the interior of the United States. This represents far too few enforcement personnel searching for far too many illegal aliens, especially those with criminal histories and possible links to terrorist organizations.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20050110-122440-4921r

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com Border Patrol grabs 1.15 million illegals in '04By Jerry SeperTHE WASHINGTON TIMESPublished January 10, 2005 U.S.

Border Patrol agents apprehended 1.15 million illegal aliens last year trying to sneak into the United States between the nation's land ports of entry, more than 3,100 a day -- a 24 percent increase over the year before. The agents, part of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), also made 8,577 drug seizures, confiscating 1.4 million pounds of illegal narcotics with an estimated street value of $1.62 billion, according to the figures released by the Department of Homeland Security. The Homeland Security figures also show that CBP inspectors and officers at the nation's 300 official land, air and sea ports of entry made 47,744 drug seizures worth an estimated $1 billion; seized more than $138 million in counterfeit goods, up from $94 million in 2003; and identified and arrested more than 23,000 people with criminal records -- including 84 murder suspects, 37 suspected kidnappers, 151 wanted on charges of sexual assault, 212 robbery suspects and 2,630 others implicated in drug-related charges. Those inspectors and officers also processed 428 million passengers and pedestrians, including 262 million aliens, denying entry to more than 643,000 aliens under U.S. law. CBP Commissioner Robert C. Bonner attributed the increases to the reorganization under the new Department of Homeland Security, which allowed him to clarify the lines of authority and to give the new 42,000-member agency a clear mission. He said the March 2003 unification of Customs, Immigration and Naturalization Service and Agriculture Department inspectors with the Border Patrol brought "an unprecedented transformation in the way people and goods arriving at American ports of entry are processed." "With additional resources and improved technology, America's borders are safer and more secure than when border responsibilities were fragmented among different agencies," he said. "CBP has moved aggressively to secure the flow of legitimate travelers and trade into our country, and the staggering amount of apprehensions and detentions prove it." The Border Patrol helped identify and arrest 23,000 criminal suspects through a new biometrics fingerprint identification technology that allows agents to search CBP's Automated Biometrics Identification System and the FBI's criminal fingerprint database simultaneously. The new system went on line late last year at all 148 Border Patrol stations throughout the country. The agency had long been ignored as a part of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), where it was often confronted with confusing chains of command and conflicting priorities. Mr. Bonner, who formerly headed the U.S. Customs Service before his appointment by President Bush to lead CBP, said at the time a "strong and effective" Border Patrol was needed between the nation's ports of entry to stop potential terrorists, apprehend the millions of aliens who seek to enter the United States illegally each year, and to stop drug smugglers from bringing tons of narcotics into the country. "The Border Patrol is America's main force between the country's ports of entry," Mr. Bonner said. "It has found a good home in U.S. Customs and Border Protection and will be supported in a way INS never did." Mr. Bonner has said that for CBP to carry out its priority mission of keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the country, the agency had to do "everything within our power to secure our nation's borders." Copyright � 2005 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Return to the article
Click Here For Commercial Reprints and PermissionsCopyright � 2005 News World Communications, Inc.

TrackBack