Thread: The safety of our nation is at risk By Rep. Tom Tancredo

The safety of our nation is at risk
http://origin.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_7473040


I am disappointed but not surprised by the Post's attack on my Iowa television ad.

If my advertisement is "fear-mongering," then Mothers Against Drunk Driving should apologize for suggesting that drunk driving kills innocent people. So do open borders.

The narrative text of my Iowa advertisement distinguishes between the 20 million illegal immigrants who come here "to take our jobs" and those who come full of hate to conduct acts of terror. It is not fear-mongering to suggest that terrorists will join in taking advantage of our porous borders.

Any rational person should be concerned about the large number of unknown trespassers who cross our borders:


In 2004 alone, more than 7,500 "Special Interest Aliens" were apprehended trying to enter the country (out of a total of more than 1 million apprehended aliens). A Special Interest Alien is one whose country of origin is on the State Department's list of nations which either harbor terrorist organizations or are known to have terrorist cells — thus deserving of special scrutiny. Multiply that number by 10 years and you can see the potential size of the threat.

In the nine-month period of Oct. 1, 2003, to June 30, 2004, 151 persons were apprehended on our borders from the eight most notorious state sponsors of terrorism: Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan Libya, and Syria. There are more than 40 other countries which also produce Special Interest Aliens because of known terrorist activities, such as the Philippines and Pakistan. When you add up the numbers apprehended from these countries over a 10-year period, we are talking about several thousand high-risk interlopers who have already entered our country.

Until mid-2006, the policy of the federal government regarding the apprehension and deportation of non-Mexicans was "catch and release." Persons from Pakistan, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and 100 other nations were routinely released on a "promise to appear" at an immigration hearing. Surprise! More than 80 percent of the hundreds of thousands of individuals released in this manner never showed up for their hearing and likely deportation. They disappeared into America.
In 2006, FBI Director Robert Mueller testified before a congressional committee. In responding to a question from a Texas congressman, Mueller said that there is evidence that many persons of Middle Eastern origin are learning Spanish and taking on Hispanic identities in Latin American countries. There is also evidence that Hezbollah is active in Central and South America.

In addition, a Sept. 11 commission staff report tells the story of a Lebanese café owner in Tijuana who smuggled more than 200 Lebanese nationals into California, "including sympathizers of Hezbollah."

Yet The Denver Post asks readers to believe that only benevolent and peaceful individuals will travel those back roads into the United States.

As unpleasant as it is to contemplate, there are terrorist cells in Canada and Latin America. Why does The Denver Post ask us to believe that these individuals will never try to take advantage of our porous borders?

Is it rational to believe that every tunnel under the border is used only to smuggle future farmworkers and dishwashers? Few in law enforcement who have dealt with the Mexican cartels believe they would refuse to smuggle terrorists if the price is right.

Six years after Sept. 11, we still have porous borders and Congress still drags its feet on funding the border fence and additional manpower for the Border Patrol. The safety of our nation is at risk, and I am asking candidates for president to address this issue forthrightly.

The Denver Post asks us to make a dangerous gamble that our open borders permit only benevolent people to enter. Most Americans are not as sanguine about the motives of all of the border jumpers.

But a newspaper can afford to make mistakes and apologize later. The cost is far greater when the president of the United States mistakes a welcome mat for a border fence.



Guest commentary submissions of up to 650 words may be sent to openforum@denverpost.com.
Republican Tom Tancredo represents Colorado's 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Excellent article.