“Non-Mexican illegal aliens a U.S. security headache,” from Reuters, with thanks to EPG:
WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of people from countries other than Mexico illegally crossed the Mexican border into the United States last year, creating a growing security headache for U.S. authorities.
Mexicans caught by U.S. border patrols trying to enter the country illegally are usually immediately returned to their native land.
But Mexico accepts only Mexicans, so any non-Mexicans are checked against government watch lists as a potential security or criminal threat. If their names do not appear, many are released on their own recognizance and told to appear at a deportation hearing often months in the future. The majority fail to show up for the hearing and are never seen again.
“The fear is of al Qaeda people sneaking across the Mexican border because it’s become so much harder for them to get into the country by other means,” said Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, referring to the organization that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. He noted that it took only 19 people to hijack the planes which destroyed the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon and killed almost 3,000 people.
U.S. authorities have since vastly tightened visa scrutiny and airport checks, especially for people seeking to enter the United States from the Middle East.
But law enforcement agents across the southwest border are alarmed that the United States is releasing thousands of non-Mexicans, said Rep. Solomon Ortiz, a Texas Democrat.
“Those released include individuals from nations the U.S. defines as state sponsors of potential terrorism or from those nations who have produced a large number of al Qaeda militants,” he said. Experts believe that about 7,000 people who were not from Central America or Mexico were detained on the U.S.-Mexican border last year. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, declined to give a breakdown of where all detainees were from.