Thread: Iraqis are entering U.S. through Mexico

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib ... ldean.html

Iraqis are entering U.S. through Mexico

Most are Chaldeans; smuggling probed

By Sandra Dibble
STAFF WRITER

December 28, 2006

TIJUANA – U.S. and Mexican immigration agencies are investigating the arrival of small groups of Iraqis at the border in the past week and their possible connection to smuggling organizations.

Baja California agents and Mexican federal immigration officers found a group of four Friday night at a Tijuana hotel. In addition, two groups of about two or three Iraqis turned themselves in earlier this week to U.S. inspectors at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports of entry, asking for political asylum.

“We've continued to see a steady trickle of Iraqis coming into the United States through Mexico, requesting asylum once they're in the United States,” said Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego.

The vast majority of Iraqis who show up along the California border are members of the Chaldean Christian minority who are drawn by San Diego's sizable Chaldean community. Their numbers today are nowhere near those of six years ago, when Tijuana was a major transit point for Chaldeans trying to get to the United States.

U.S. immigration policies adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have made it harder for Iraqis and others from “countries of special interest” who file asylum claims at the U.S. border. As they await their hearings, they are often in federal custody for months; in the past, they often went free on bond.

“The flow is continuing. It has not stopped in the past year,” said Aziz Asmar, an El Cajon attorney who represents many Chaldeans. Asmar said he is handling more than two dozen cases, including three new clients in the past week.

“Pretty much the ones who can afford to leave Iraq are leaving.”

Francisco Javier Reynoso Nuno, head of the National Institute for Migration in Tijuana, declined a request for an interview yesterday, but he told the Tijuana newspaper Frontera this week that the four detained in Tijuana are Chaldeans: two men, ages 33 and 32; a 25-year-old woman; and a 3-year-old girl. Reynoso told the newspaper that they would be deported.

Immigration officials would say little else about the case.

Mack said U.S. and Mexican authorities are working together to investigate the cases and the possible involvement of a smuggling ring.

Asmar, the El Cajon attorney, said his clients typically are brought to the border by smugglers, often traveling through countries such as Greece and Spain to get to Mexico.

How can we as a Nation be at war with terrorism when are borders are wide open to terrorists? Goodness even illegals are coming in armed and already killing our citizens.

I saw this on Lou Dobbs a month ago. It came out in some Bush Adminstration Intelligence Estimate. What really sucks is sooner or later one of these illegals will commit an act of terror and our government will still refuse to secure our southern border.

Yes above all they CANNOT admit they were wrong about anything, especially security. Better that we Americans die than they stop to reevaluate their error.

Hawkeye wrote:

What really sucks is sooner or later one of these illegals will commit an act of terror and our government will still refuse to secure our southern border.

I hate to say this, because it definitely isn't something I want or wish for, but if an act of terror is predestined (by an illegal immigrant), I hope it happens before the McCain/Kennedy amnesty bill reaches the senate floor. I honestly believe such an act would stall any attempt at an amnesty bill until after the 2008 presidential election.

Originally Posted by MW

Hawkeye wrote:

What really sucks is sooner or later one of these illegals will commit an act of terror and our government will still refuse to secure our southern border.

I hate to say this, because it definitely isn't something I want or wish for, but if an act of terror is predestined (by an illegal immigrant), I hope it happens before the McCain/Kennedy amnesty bill reaches the senate floor. I honestly believe such an act would stall any attempt at an amnesty bill until after the 2008 presidential election.

I don't think that is something any of ou want or wish for...but if it can't be prevented then let's hope it puts and end to Amnesty...Permanently!
The 1986 Amnesty was a disaster and the one they want now would be much worse.

bUsH Must be very busy latley with all the terrorist crossing the border ,how does he find the time to personally welcome each one of them?

"We can't even seal our own border here in the United States..."
Don Rumsfeld

http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/ ... f3161.html

Originally Posted by dem4labor

"We can't even seal our own border here in the United States..."
Don Rumsfeld

http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/ ... f3161.html

I don't believe that for one sec!