january 16, 2006

Mexican Drug Cartels Helping 'Osama's People' Enter U.S.?

Over the past year, I've often wrote about America's porous border with Mexico and the possibility of Islamist terrorists using it to their advantage. Although a number of outstanding terrorism analysts believe that the weakly-guarded, expansive Canadian border is actually at greater risk, the steady barrage of disturbing reports emanating from America's southern boundary cannot be ignored. The latest comes out of Brownsville, TX, where, according to the Brownsville Herald, "Officials are pointing to records in a South Texas drug case with alleged terrorist ties that they say underscores the lack of preparedness [along the southern border]."

In January 2005, two Mexican cocaine traffickers, Noel Exinia and Cesario Nuñez, were arrested by U.S. agents along the U.S./Mexico border while trying to push large quantities of illegal drugs. Both have since pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges. But there's a much more sinister angle to this story. Here's more, from the Herald:

Court documents filed in Exinia’s case make frequent references to his position in the notorious Gulf Cartel. The paperwork also contains details of a December 2004 incident in which he tried to secure transportation for 20 Middle Eastern “terrorists” waiting to enter the United States from Monterrey, Chiapas and Puebla in Mexico.

Recorded telephone conversations authorized under the U.S. Patriot Act and a court order captured the La Feria truck driver referring to the 20 men as “gente de Osama” or “Osama’s people.”

During a Jan. 5, 2005, telephone conversation, Exinia described the men as “Iraqis,” ages 25 to 33, who were willing to pay $8,000 for transportation past Border Patrol checkpoints in South Texas and into the U.S. interior.

Exinia mentioned that eight of the men were coming to Progreso, northwest of Brownsville. He said they were “dangerous” and “really bad people.” They carried guns and made the smuggler that was helping them “afraid.”

Court records show that Exinia tried to employ a pilot — who turned out to be a confidential government source — to fly the men from the Valley to the northeastern United States.

Something to remember about Latin American drug gangs: they have no allegiance to anyone or anything other than themselves and the almighty dollar. Combine that with jihadists who are willing to pay top dollar to enter the U.S., and you have a recipe for disaster. The notion that no terrorists or terrorist sympathizers have entered the U.S. through Mexico is pure folly, as this report and this one clearly show. We've identified the problem: now what are our elected officals--from both parties--going to do about it?

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