Thread: FBI: Iraqis Being Smuggled Across the Rio Grande

All I can say is DUH! Chertoff and Bush you are just such spectacular examples of human beings!!!!!!!!!!!


http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/200 ... -bein.html

FBI: Iraqis Being Smuggled Across the Rio Grande
Share July 17, 2007 3:11 PM

Brian Ross Reports:

The FBI is investigating an alleged human smuggling operation based in Chaparral, N.M., that agents say is bringing "Iraqis and other Middle Eastern" individuals across the Rio Grande from Mexico.

An FBI intelligence report distributed by the Washington, D.C. Joint Terrorism Task Force, obtained by the Blotter on ABCNews.com, says the illegal ring has been bringing Iraqis across the border illegally for more than a year.

Border Patrol officials in the area said they were unaware of the specifics of the FBI's report, and federal prosecutors in New Mexico told ABCNews.com they had no current cases involving the illegal smuggling of Iraqis.

The FBI report, issued last week, says the smuggling organization "used to smuggle Mexicans, but decided to smuggle Iraqi or other Middle Eastern individuals because it was more lucrative." Each individual would be charged a fee of $20,000 to $25,000, according to the report.

The people to be smuggled would "gather at a house on the Mexican side of the border" and then cross the Rio Grande into the U.S., the report says.

"Unidentified individuals would then transport them to train stations in El Paso, Texas or Belen, New Mexico," according to the FBI document.

A spokesman in Albuquerque said the FBI had "no viable information" that could lead to a case.

Until recently, the United States has kept its doors all but shut to the estimated two million refugees fleeing the violence in Iraq. Until this year, the country had taken in fewer than 800 Iraqi refugees, according to the State Department. This May, the Bush administration pledged to resettle 7,000 Iraqi refugees here by the end of the year.

Until recently, the United States has kept its doors all but shut to the estimated two million refugees fleeing the violence in Iraq. Until this year, the country had taken in fewer than 800 Iraqi refugees, according to the State Department.


That should have read, 'the US has kept its door ANYTHING but shut '

Good find Paige. We all need to copy and paste this article and then fax it to all of the Senators. We need to blitz them with this and DEMAND the 870 miles of fence be built immediately, no strings attached.

Let's make sure we use a caveat in the end and say this has NOTHING to do with refugees, this is potential terrorists. Get it done.

I've copied and pasted this article and going to fax it with a message that their legacy will be they did not protect the American Citizen. Build the 870 miles of fence and do it now.

Good thing to send it to the congresspeople. It is possible some are not smart enough to know this already. They aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, after all.

I did hear one congresscritter, when asked about this, say -- 'that those ME terrorists would not come across the Southern border and risk having to cross that desert.'

Just wondered where he thought the ME was - a rain forest?

FBI: Iraqis being smuggled through Chaparral (5:25 p.m.)
By Bryan Kirk/Sun-News Reporter
Article Launched: 07/18/2007 05:22:35 PM MDT


LAS CRUCES - Iraqis and other Middle Easterners are being smuggled from Mexico and into the United States through Chaparral, according to an FBI report.

An FBI report distributed by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Washington, D.C. said the FBI was investigating an apparent human smuggling operation based in Chaparral that involved the smuggling Iraqis and other persons of Middle Eastern descent, from Mexico and into the United States.

The story was first broken on ABCNews.com by reporter Brian Ross, who declined to be interviewed Wednesday by the Sun-News and would not elaborate on how the report was obtained.

Chaparral, a small community north of El Paso, is located in both Otero and Do-a Ana counties.

Doña Ana County Sheriff Todd Garrison said he'd received information from confidential informants working along the Mexican border about this smuggling operation and provided that information to the FBI.

"We've had contact with the FBI on some information we passed on, that was strictly for what is going on right now in Chaparral," Garrison said. "Some of the information we passed on was about people being smuggled across the border."

Garrison said the information from the confidential informant concerned him, being that

Do-a Ana County is a border community.
"We are not enforcing immigration, we are looking for other things," Garrison said of his officers' activities on the border. "We are trying to prepare for the worst. We are trying to train our officers to be more observant to look for things that they may not have thought about."

Otero County Undersheriff Norbert Sanchez was surprised to hear about the reports of the alleged smuggling operation

"This is news to me," Sanchez said. "We've been in Chaparral and we have not encountered any Iraqi or Middle Eastern individuals."

Doug Mosier, public information officer for the U.S. Border Patrol in El Paso, said if there is an investigation, they have not heard anything from the FBI.

"We are scratching our heads on this one," Mosier said. "We have not received any actionable intelligence on this alleged network. We are going to continue to look into it with the FBI and other agencies."

Bill Elwell, FBI special agent in Albuquerque, said the report was based on raw information and was not officially being investigated yet.

"This is raw intelligence that goes out to law enforcement agencies only," Elwell said. "At this point, we don't have an investigation in the Albuquerque division. We hear stories like that, but our inquiries have never justified an investigation."

Roberto Medina, special agent-in-charge of investigations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said there may not be enough evidence for an investigation. Medina was critical of early media reports about the alleged incidents.

"We are aware of those media reports. It's unfortunate, because that report was probably prematurely released by people who didn't have the baseline facts. It probably is an overreaction," Medina said. "We're aware that there are foreigners living in Chaparral, but they are there legally and are hard-working people trying to make a living. People don't need to worry about those individuals. But that's not to say that there haven't been attempts that still continue today to try to smuggle people across our borders."

Medina said he could understand the concerns people have about this issue, and that it is OK to be vigilant, but not to overreact.

Meanwhile, the FBI in Washington may still be looking into the matter.

Sen. Pete Domenici and his staff contacted the FBI Tuesday and asked for a briefing on the situation. According to a press release issued from Domenici's office, that briefing is pending and the implications have Domenici very concerned.

"I expect to get more information from the FBI on this report. If it is verified, it exposes another facet of the threat posed by unsecure borders," Domenici said. " I want to know what's going on and what we can do to protect ourselves from illegal entries, particularly if these entries pose a homeland security risk. This type of report only underscores the fact that we must make border security a top national priority."

Steve Wilmeth, who owns on the Old Lazy E Ranch in Do-a Ana County, said illegal aliens have crossed his ranch for years, and he still sees signs of them from time to time, but not as often as he used too.

"We see waves," he said. "Since the National Guard activity, we've seen, not a dramatic decrease, but a decrease."

Although he had not seen the report about the alleged smuggling ring, Sen. Jeff Bingaman said he wanted to see the National Guard strength maintained on the border to help stem the tide of illegal aliens, no matter where they come from.

"The security of our borders should be our utmost priority," Bingaman said.


Bryan Kirk can be reached at bkirk@lcsun-news.com

http://www.lcsun-news.com/news/ci_6406012

I'm glad to see Domenici on top of it.