Bush Wants To Cut New Border Guards From 2000 to 210

[Bronco_Beerslug]

What's wrong with this person that he can't comprehend our problem with the millions of illegals streaming into this country through the Mexico-U.S. border?!?

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Bush under pressure to increase border patrol
By Jerry Seper
The Washington Times
Published March 14, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Concern by U.S. intelligence officials that al Qaeda operatives have targeted the U.S.-Mexico border as a route into the United States has fueled criticism of President Bush's proposal to hire 210 new Border Patrol agents instead of the 2,000 proposed in the intelligence overhaul bill he signed in December.

Both Democrats and Republicans have challenged the president's 2006 fiscal budget request, including Sen. Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who said it "ignores the stark reality of the resources needed to secure the homeland."

Democrats say the request shows that Mr. Bush's priorities are misplaced, both on border security and on the broader issue of immigration reform, and the entire House Republican leadership told the president in a letter that they were "disappointed" in his decision not to fund the 2,000 new agents.

At a meeting of the Appropriations Committee homeland security subcommittee last week, Mr. Byrd said the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act signed Dec. 6 by Mr. Bush authorized 2,000 new agents in each of the next five years and that in a letter that day to Congress, the president called the bill "an important step in strengthening our immigration laws by ... increasing the number of Border Patrol agents."

The Border Patrol hirings are included in the Homeland Security Department's proposed $41.1 billion budget. About 90 percent of the new agents in the intelligence overhaul bill were to be assigned to the 1,940-mile U.S.-Mexico border. About 11,000 Border Patrol agents are now assigned at the country's borders with Mexico and Canada.

Last year, the Border Patrol apprehended 1.15 million illegal aliens trying to sneak into the United States. There is no official estimate of how many successfully gain entry each year, although Border Patrol agents and immigration analysts have said that anywhere from one in two to one in five aliens are being caught. An estimated 15 million to 20 million illegals are thought to be in the United States.

The House Republican leadership said 210 new agents instead of 2,000 would seriously hamper efforts to control illegal immigration along the Mexican border.

Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz, Texas Democrat, testifying March 3 before the House Judiciary immigration, border security and claims subcommittee, said the failure to hire the new agents would leave the United States vulnerable to terrorism at a time when illegal immigration from suspect countries is increasing.

"The southern border is literally under siege and there is a real possibility that terrorists, particularly al Qaeda forces, could exploit this series of holes in our law-enforcement system," he said. "Until we have the resources we need ... to accurately screen these immigrants, they are going to continue to enter the country."
http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.ph...4-120853-5910r

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Anticipated response from the bush lemmings:

"Gosh, Beerslug, you're so full of hatred and bitterness...you must lead a miserable life. I sure wouldn't want to be someone who's as full of hatred as you."

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by Bronco_Beerslug

What's wrong with this person that he can't comprehend our problem with the millions of illegals streaming into this country through the Mexico-U.S. border?!?

He's a cheap labor conservative - that's what's wrong.

[alkemical]

what's even worse is i think i read/heard somewhere that boarder guards were sent to iraq....

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Originally Posted by amesj523

what's even worse is i think i read/heard somewhere that boarder guards were sent to iraq....

Well, it comes down to money that was suppose to go to securing our country here at home but Bush has spent everything in the kitty and Greenspan told him we are in danger of collapsing economically if we don't get the deficit under control. Only an idiot would cut taxes for the wealthy and start a war and then not secure our borders!

[alkemical]

well what business has the prez run that didn't go under?

[Spider]

I think you guys are being very unreasonable ..... Bush has to cut the boarder guard , there is no other way around it , we need the Money to police them damn Homosexuals ....

[shakenbake]

As a Bush supporter I find this very disturbing. What really sucks is that very few people out there on either side of the isle want to stand up to Bush on this issue. It comes down to votes. Neither side wants to lose votes over taking a tough stand on this issue. Something needs to be done. I'm all for legal immigration and think it is something that has made this nation great. But it is something that needs to be controlled.

[Garcia Bronco]

What Bush really wants to do is to develop towns in Mexico close to or border...so they won't want to leave Mexico.

[alkemical]

instead of "run to the boarder" it's "stay where you are!"

[ClevelandBronco]

You can include me on the list of hardcore Repubs who think that this kind of mismanagement of our southern border is unquestionably damaging to our workforce and potentially (hell, ultimately and inevitably) hazardous to our security.

I also understand that this isn't going to be the hill our party will choose to die on. It's unlikely that we'll alienate (interesting word) the Hispanic voting bloc by ordering the National Guard to defend the border. And let's be honest here: No one is ready for the accidental killings that would almost certainly happen if we were to militarize our southern border.

Strangely, my naturalized Mexican wife is even stronger in her opinions against illegals. Her father was born in San Francisco. (He's the reason my wife went through the naturalization process easily.) Her father sleeps in El Paso, but lives on either side depending on what he needs today. He strongly believes that the border should remain wide open. From what I know from living down there, his opinion represents something closer to a majority opinion.

I lived in El Paso for seven years and I'm here to tell you that the border is a virtual fiction. It's a line on every map, but it sure as hell isn't a real barrier to the people who live on either side. That means there's no way one party will fall on their sword over this one.

The issue could be addressed, but it won't be addressed.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Al Qaeda seeks tie to local gangs



This Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles flier shows Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a Saudi national who may be plotting terrorist attacks as part of al-Qaida.
(AP)


By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

A top al Qaeda lieutenant has met with leaders of a violent Salvadoran criminal gang with roots in Mexico and the United States — including a stronghold in the Washington area — in an effort by the terrorist network to seek help infiltrating the U.S.-Mexico border, law enforcement authorities said. Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a key al Qaeda cell leader for whom the U.S. government has offered a $5 million reward, was spotted in July in Honduras meeting with leaders of El Salvador's notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang, which immigration officials said has smuggled hundreds of Central and South Americans — mostly gang members — into the United States. Although they are actively involved in alien, drug and weapons smuggling, Mara Salvatrucha members in America also have been tied to numerous killings, robberies, burglaries, carjackings, extortions, rapes and aggravated assaults — including at least seven killings in Virginia and a machete attack on a 16-year-old in Alexandria that severely mutilated his hands.

The Salvadoran gang, known to law enforcement authorities as MS-13 because many members identify themselves with tattoos of the number 13, is thought to have established a major smuggling center in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of Brownsville, Texas, from where it has arranged to bring illegal aliens from countries other than Mexico into the United States. Authorities said al Qaeda terrorists hope to take advantage of a lack of detention space within the Department of Homeland Security that has forced immigration officials to release non-Mexican illegal aliens back into the United States, rather than return them to their home countries. Less than 15 percent of those released appear for immigration hearings. Nearly 60,000 illegal aliens designated as other-than-Mexican, or OTMs, were detained last year along the U.S.-Mexico border.

El Shukrijumah, born in Saudi Arabia but thought to be a Yemen national, was spotted in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in July, having crossed the border illegally from Nicaragua after a stay in Panama. U.S. authorities said al Qaeda operatives have been in Tegucigalpa planning attacks against British, Spanish and U.S. embassies. Known to carry passports from Saudi Arabia, Trinidad, Guyana and Canada, El Shukrijumah had sought meetings with the Mara Salvatrucha gang leaders who control alien-smuggling routes through Mexico and into the United States. El Shukrijumah, 29, who authorities said was in Canada last year looking for nuclear material for a so-called "dirty bomb" and reportedly has family members in Guyana, was named in a March 2003 material-witness arrest warrant by federal prosecutors in Northern Virginia, where U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty said he is sought in connection with potential terrorist threats against the United States. A former southern Florida resident and pilot thought to have helped plan the September 11 attacks, El Shukrijumah was among seven suspected al Qaeda operatives identified in May by Attorney General John Ashcroft as being involved in plans to strike new targets in the United States. Citing "credible intelligence from multiple sources," Mr. Ashcroft said at the time that El Shukrijumah posed "a clear and present danger to America."

In August, an FBI alert described him as "armed and dangerous" and a major threat to homeland security. Earlier this month, Mr. Ashcroft confirmed that U.S. border agents and inspectors had ramped up efforts to find El Shukrijumah amid reports that the al Qaeda leader was thought to be seeking entry routes into the United States along the U.S.-Mexico border. Mr. Ashcroft noted that increased enforcement efforts were under way in the wake of a rise of arrests of border jumpers from Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Authorities said Mara Salvatrucha gang members moved into the Los Angeles area in the 1980s and developed a reputation for being organized and extremely violent. The gang since has expanded into the Washington area, including Virginia and Maryland, and into Oregon, Alaska, Texas, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Georgia and Florida. More than 3,000 Mara Salvatrucha gang members are thought to be in the Washington area, with a major operation in Northern Virginia. Other gang centers, authorities said, include Montgomery and Prince George's counties and the Hispanic neighborhoods of Washington. Mr. McNulty, whose office has prosecuted Mara Salvatrucha gang members, has described the organization as the "gang of greatest interest" to law enforcement authorities.

He said gang members are recruited predominantly from Hispanic communities and typically among juveniles, some as young as 13. Recruits are "jumped" into the gang by being beaten by members while others count to 13, he said. Gang rules, he said, are indoctrinated into new recruits and ruthlessly enforced. Those who cooperate with law enforcement are given the "green light," he said, meaning that the gang had approved their killing. In March, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office filed an injunction against Mara Salvatrucha, charging that the gang's criminal activity constituted a "public nuisance" based on the number of killings, robberies and drug crimes. The injunction requires gang members, under public nuisance statutes, to follow curfew rules and regulations and prohibits them from associating, driving or appearing together in designated areas of the city.
http://washingtontimes.com/national/...3346-3928r.htm

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Another reason to control our borders IMO.....

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Illegal Alien Gets Into Nuclear Plant
3 men used bogus Social Security numbers to work at Crystal River.

By Cory Reiss
Ledger Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other agencies are investigating how at least one illegal immigrant used a false Social Security number to work inside the Crystal River nuclear power plant.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security detained three Mexican citizens at the site Thursday and charged them with entering the country illegally. At least one worked inside the nuclear complex under supervision, a spokesman for the power plant said.

All three men used false Social Security numbers to obtain work through a contractor for Progress Energy, which owns the site north of Tampa that includes one nuclear reactor and four coalfired power generators, according to the company and an immigration spokeswoman.

The incident raised concerns about soft spots in nuclear security that terrorists could exploit.

"Of all the places where an illegal alien should not be, this is like at the top of the list," said Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, a Republican who lives near the plant, which is in her congressional district.

Browne-Waite's 5th Congressional District includes the northern portion of Polk County.

Progress Energy and a spokesman for the NRC said there was never any danger, even if the men were intent on doing harm -- something no one claims.

Workers that were part of a crew doing maintenance and painting were under constant supervision in the nuclear complex and went through standard metal detector and X-ray-screening, they said.

All three men used driver's licenses to enter the facility after an initial computer check of their Social Security numbers failed to alert Progress Energy that they were either fake or stolen, said Rick Kimble, a Progress spokesman in Raleigh, N.C.

Brown-Waite said the arrests show why Congress should pass legislation that would set nationwide standards for issuing driver's licenses. Supporters of the bill, known as the Real ID Act, say it is needed to deter terrorists from obtaining identification relied on by airlines and other industries. The House has passed the bill, but the Senate has not.

Several people involved said agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation also were on the Crystal River site Thursday. State law enforcement has been involved, a company memorandum says. Neither agency would confirm or deny that.

The detained men were employees of Texas-based Brock Specialty Services, which supplies maintenance workers at a variety of facilities around the country.

The immigration spokeswoman said a U.S. attorney in Texas is considering charging the men with crimes related to counterfeit documents they allegedly gave to Brock to prove they could be legally employed.

Brock Specialty Services gave Progress Energy a list of names and Social Security numbers before its work crew arrived at the site, Kimble said. Progress Energy ran those numbers through national law enforcement databases but no red flags popped up, he said.

Kimble said only Social Security numbers that have been flagged with a criminal record or other problem would come back with an alert. A person could use the number of someone who is actually dead and the company wouldn't know it, or the number could be totally false with the same result, he said.

Only one of the three men arrested is known to have entered the nuclear complex. He did some painting in a turbine facility but not near any sensitive nuclear equipment, Kimble said. The other two were detained elsewhere on the property, he said.

Progress faulted Brock Specialty Services, which it says is responsible for checking its employees' identities. Brock issued a statement that said there was no security breach at Crystal River and that it followed all required procedures.

Kimble said Progress Energy, which also does not consider the incident a security breach, has not fired the contractor but expects Brock to cooperate with investigators. The power company says it can't be responsible for the veracity of driver's licenses.

Progress Energy investigated and notified authorities after a union organization sent a letter on Wednesday alleging that seven Brock employees had fraudulent Social Security numbers. Kimble said several of those numbers checked out, however.

The Florida Gulf Coast Building and Construction Trades Council saw the matter as a labor violation, at the very least.

"It's now a basic issue of the safety and security of the surrounding community," said Michael Jeske, treasurer of the council.

Brown-Waite said she would continue to press the issue.

"Obviously the guidelines are not as airtight or as reassuring as we would want them to be," she said.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.d...503120371/1004