How secure our our borders

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An interesting take from those charged with the daily job of patrolling the US borders:

"Only about one-third of Customs and Border Protection agents and inspectors believe they have all the tools, training and support to stop terrorists from entering the country, according to a survey released Monday.

The poll of Border Patrol officers, conducted for the unions representing them, found the vast majority believe stopping terrorists from getting into the country is their top mission.

But only 34 percent said they were fairly or very satisfied with the tools and training provided by the Homeland Security Department. Union officials said at a news conference that the tools needed include better vehicles, training in Spanish for new officers and improved access to databases of potential terrorists.

“It should be simple for any law enforcement officer, anywhere in the world, if they encounter someone suspicious to run one biometric check that would link them to all this information so that they would know if this person is a suspected terrorist or a criminal,” said T.J. Bonner, president of National Border Patrol Council…"

"The survey, done by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, was based on responses from 250 Border Patrol agents and 250 Customs and Border Protection inspectors who were interviewed by telephone between July 30 and Aug. 7. The survey’s margin of error is 4.5 percent.

About 6,500 of 10,000 Border Patrol agents are members of the National Border Patrol Council. About 60 percent to 65 percent of the 6,700 Customs and Border Protection inspectors are in the National Homeland Security Council…"

newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/8/24/93023.shtml
 
We have thousands of undocumented aliens entering the US every year. I’ve always said if Jose can get in to work at Sun Devil Stadium, then what’s stopping Mohammad from getting in to blow it up?
 
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kjvail:
We have thousands of undocumented aliens entering the US every year. I’ve always said if Jose can get in to work at Sun Devil Stadium, then what’s stopping Mohammad from getting in to blow it up?
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Some of the local papers in border states like Arizona/Texas have reported some VERY interesting types picked up in the more current rounds of arrests - they ain’t where they are supposed to be from - who woulda guessed?

From WorldNetdaily:

Al-Qaida runs own
travel agency
9-11 panel report says Latin American service helps terrorists get to U.S.​

Posted: August 24, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

While there likely aren’t any posters depicting exotic destinations on the wall, an al-Qaida travel agency operates in Latin America to help terrorists enter the U.S., the 9-11 commission reports.

The revelation was part of the panel’s final report issued Saturday as the commission formally disbanded.

The global terror network operates a travel service that uses human smugglers as tools, reported Agence France-Presse.

“There are uncorroborated law-enforcement reports suggesting that associates of al-Qaida used smugglers in Latin America to travel through the region in 2002, before traveling onward to the United States,” the panel said, without offering specifics.

Though the reference is to 2002, recent news reports indicate a growing concern that Arab terrorists are using the porous southern border to enter the United States.

Federal agents said OTMs – border lingo for “other than Mexicans” – were an increasing problem.

The commission report also stresses the premium al-Qaida puts on creating false border documents, including passports. According to the panel, Osama bin Laden associate Abu Zubaydah was the network’s expert in travel fraud.

“He told them what kinds of clothes to wear, what kinds of airline tickets to purchase, how to alter their appearances and what to carry in order to avoid attracting suspicion from border authorities,” the report said.
 
If I were of a mind to attack the US that’s where’d I’d get in - the Mexican border. Why bother with visa, passports, fake id’s - just walk across no questions asked.
 
It’s interesting to me that everyone is worried about Al Qaeda (or their associates) coming into the country, when they are already here.

The open and free nature of our country is precisely what our enemies will use against us. Allow me to quote a prominant Al Qaeda leader (from a posting on a now defunct Al Qeada web site):
“American officials are even more fearful when it comes to the opportunities that globalization provides those who want to bring such weapons [nuclear or radiological] into America. In 1996, 254 million persons, 75 million automobiles, and 3.5 million trucks entered America from Mexico. At the 38 official border crossings only 5 percent of this huge total is inspected…These are figures that really call for contemplation”
 
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kjvail:
We have thousands of undocumented aliens entering the US every year. I’ve always said if Jose can get in to work at Sun Devil Stadium, then what’s stopping Mohammad from getting in to blow it up?
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Hmmm. Well, let’s not forget where Timothy McVeigh was from, folks!

Maybe it’s time we start trying to get at the root of the problem rather than just some of the symptoms. Trying to deal with terrorism without fixing US policies that in fact terrorize many people in the Middle East and around the world is like taking advil for a sore mouth rather than having the root canal it really need. Sure, we need the advil for here and now to stop the ache, but it won’t go away long term unless we fix the bigger problem.
 
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Steph700:
Maybe it’s time we start trying to get at the root of the problem rather than just some of the symptoms…but it won’t go away long term unless we fix the bigger problem.
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I’m interested, what do you perceive as the root of the problem?
 
A brief comment on our federal government and the plane to secure our borders.

Step one: Do away with the INS and incorporate INS functions into Homeland Security

Step two: Hire people who know border security (INS officers) as Department of Homeland Security.

Step three: Print new stationary.

Do not get me wrong, I am pro-Bush, but I have seen the INS in Houston change nothing but the stationary in how they do business. We deal with the same faces, policies and illogic. We will never secure our borders until we are committed to do so in a politically incorrect manner.
 
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pnewton:
A brief comment on our federal government and the plane to secure our borders.

Step one: Do away with the INS and incorporate INS functions into Homeland Security
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The INS has already been incorporated into the Dept of Homeland Security. Unfortunately that hasn’t helped the border situation.
 
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Steph700:
Hmmm. Well, let’s not forget where Timothy McVeigh was from, folks!

Maybe it’s time we start trying to get at the root of the problem rather than just some of the symptoms. Trying to deal with terrorism without fixing US policies that in fact terrorize many people in the Middle East and around the world is like taking advil for a sore mouth rather than having the root canal it really need. Sure, we need the advil for here and now to stop the ache, but it won’t go away long term unless we fix the bigger problem.
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Which policies need to change?

We can’t make everyone happy. No matter which way we go, somebody will still be unhappy. I heard recently (anyone - correct me if this is wrong), that the number one beneficiary of US foreign aid goes to Egypt. And yet they hate us over there.

I think we need to constantly refocus our priorities in order to maintain the integrity of the United States of America, as in “To thine own self be true.”

Peace.
 
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kjvail:
We have thousands of undocumented aliens entering the US every year. I’ve always said if Jose can get in to work at Sun Devil Stadium, then what’s stopping Mohammad from getting in to blow it up?
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I used to live in South Texas, my brother was a Border Patrol agent and now works at the INternational Bridge in Pharr, TX as a “gate agent” (the person who first questions you when coming into the US). Also, we immigrated from Mexico in 1986.

I think that the US government should have some sort of “arrangement” with the “coyotes” (the people that smuggle illegals in the US). If the coyotes were to turn in every al-qaida type to US authorities perhaps the US government could pay them some money for it. Let’s face it, noone can enter illegally in teh US w/out the help of the “coyotes”. I know, this idea is against everything we would like to see, but, this is a “post 9/11 world” we live in.

Cheers.
 
I don’t think closing the borders is the answer. First, the obvious drain of resources on the US would be overwhelming. Think of the manpower costs. Second, the economic impact on the global economy would be crippling. If we stop every truck, every car, every ship, and every cargo container from entering into the US for an inspection, we would literally bring the global economy to its knees.
 
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quijote:
I think that the US government should have some sort of “arrangement” with the “coyotes” (the people that smuggle illegals in the US). If the coyotes were to turn in every al-qaida type to US authorities perhaps the US government could pay them some money for it. Let’s face it, noone can enter illegally in teh US w/out the help of the “coyotes”. I know, this idea is against everything we would like to see, but, this is a “post 9/11 world” we live in.

Cheers.
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This is a very interesting and practical suggestion. So often all we hear is rhetoric without regard to practicality. Politics makes strange bedfellows indeed.
 
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Steph700:
Maybe it’s time we start trying to get at the root of the problem rather than just some of the symptoms. Trying to deal with terrorism without fixing US policies that in fact terrorize many people in the Middle East and around the world is like taking advil for a sore mouth rather than having the root canal it really need. Sure, we need the advil for here and now to stop the ache, but it won’t go away long term unless we fix the bigger problem.
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Please be careful. You seem to imply that US policies are the “root” of the terrorism.
 
I also live in So Tex and have many friends who work for the Border Patrol. Giving the coyotes payoffs to inform on suspicious characters is like giving drug runners payoffs to inform on suspicious Columbians.
 
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asquared:
I also live in So Tex and have many friends who work for the Border Patrol. Giving the coyotes payoffs to inform on suspicious characters is like giving drug runners payoffs to inform on suspicious Columbians.
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You do know that we do similar things already, don’t you? Drug users are sometimes recruited as paid informers to catch bigger dealers, even though they themselves are commiting felonies. Sometimes it is not cash, but charge dismissal that is the payoff.
 
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