|
My understanding is that the 'coyotes' are not real particular about who they are smuggling, so long as that person's fee gets paid, so it is quite possible that this is true.
Having said that, plenty of unsavory characters have entered this country, legally and illegally, over the years, and very, very few of them have ever initiated a terrorist attack once here. Of those that have pulled off attacks, only one is believed to have entered the country illegally, and he wasn't detained at the time of entry.
Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, the cleric who issued the fatwa that the original WTC bombers relied on as religious authority to bomb the WTC, entered the country legally, as did all 19 of the 9/11 hijackers/pilots. (If you want to get really pissed off, do some research on the question of who signed off on Abdel-Rahman's entry visa application....)
Ramzi Yousef, the man who built the bomb used on the WTC in 1993, was caught at the airport entering the country on false pretenses... and was released because they didn't have room for him at the INS detention center at the time.
Yousef later petitioned the court to release documents seized from his traveling companion (who was not released when Yousef was), which turned out to be bomb-making instructions and a copy of what was later described as a "terrorist training manual".... and the court granted his request. (In the court's defense, the judge had no idea what the documents were, and neither did the INS; competent Arabic translators are hard to come by.)
My point is that it is all well and good to secure the border, but that doesn't do much to secure the country in a broader sense. As easy as it is to enter this country legally, there's little need for anti-American groups to risk the illegal entry over the southern border. Why bother with that mess if you can secure a student visa or a tourist visa and come in openly, with our consent and by the book?
__________________
Q. Boyer
|