THE BORDER PATROL HELPS GUARD AGAINST TERRORIST INFILTRATION FROM THE SOUTH
Something ominous is happening on our southern borders. For years, we have faced masses of poor workers illegally entering our country in search of jobs, as well as a smaller number of more dangerous narcotics smugglers. But today we have evidence that the same terrorists who killed 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001, are now infiltrating the United States through our southern border.
Suspected al-Qaeda sleeper agent Mohammed Junaid Babar has told investigators of a scheme to smuggle terrorists across the Mexican border. Babar is tied to a terror plot to carry out bombings and assassinations in London. Along the Mexican border there have been stories of suspicious items picked up by local residents, including Muslim prayer rugs and notebooks written in both Arabic and Spanish.
We have also seen numerous reports of Middle Eastern males, speaking Arabic or Farsi, who have been caught crossing the American border with Mexico. Adnan Shukrijumah, a top al-Qaeda operative whom the FBI wants for questioning, met with alien smugglers in Mexico and Honduras in 2004 and was seeking ways to bring al-Qaeda members into the United States. Recently, Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, who was smuggled into our country from Mexico in 2001, was sentenced to five years in prison for helping the jihadist terror group Hezbollah.
They continue trying to penetrate the United States because they want to attack us in our homeland. Time Magazine recently reported that Osama Bin Laden has personally urged his Iraqi-based lieutenant, Abu Mousab Al-Zarqawi, to attack America itself and that Al-Zarqawi believes terrorists can bribe and buy their way through Mexico and into the U.S.
Al-Zarqawi and his fellow terrorists are banking on the fact that they can slip across our border with Mexico by walking through the desert or wading across the Rio Grande. They have changed their tactics because entry through official border crossings have become more difficult thanks to new passports, more visa controls and an increase in computer identity checks instituted as part of the War on Terror.
The terrorists are counting on southern border policy and an overworked and undermanned Border Patrol to allow them to slip into our country. Under present regulations, the Border Patrol automatically turns back Mexicans caught at the border, but detains non-Mexicans for deportation hearings. The majority are released pending their court hearings, which allows them to easily disappear into the general population. The Border Patrol reports it released 5,775 of Other Than Mexican (OTM) illegal immigrants in 2002; by 2004, that number soared to 30,075. Those who are released are assigned a court date for a deportation but the no-show rate for these court meetings is as high as 90 percent. We are not sure how many of those who are released are from countries with known jihadist organizations such as al-Qaeda.
Clearly recognizing our serious border vulnerability, Congress passed the Intelligence Reform bill last year which authorized an increase of 10,000 new border patrol agents over five years. Additionally, it included provisions to add 8,000 detention beds and 800 additional interior investigators to bolster border security. Unfortunately, the draft budget only allocated enough to cover 210 agents, 143 investigators and 1,920 beds.
Since 2001, 1,300 agents have been added to the force, but this number is still not sufficient to patrol the 6,900 miles of borders with Canada and Mexico. Texas alone shares a 1,254-mile border with Mexico.
To give our Border Patrol more help, I introduced and passed an amendment to the Senate Budget Resolution to provide sufficient funds for the 2,000 new border patrol agents. This will bring this year's number of new border patrol agents to the number required by the Intelligence Reform bill passed by Congress in December. My amendment provides $352 million for new agents. Instead of creating new spending, the funds would be transferred from the $33 billion set aside for international affairs.
President Bush, Mexican President Vincente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin held a summit on March 23 at which they announced establishment of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). Their goal is to provide for better regional security as well as prosperity by developing compatible systems for screening passengers, goods and cargo.
While I welcome the assistance of Canada and Mexico, America's security depends upon our own government. I will continue efforts to ensure our Border Patrol has sufficient resources to do its job.
April 1, 2005