Know your Enemy on Domestic Terrorism.

They are not muslims, either Undocumented Immigrants, neither Mexicans.

Two Plead Guilty to Bombing U.S. Courthouse in San Diego

United States Attorney Karen P. Hewitt announced that Ella Louise Sanders pled guilty today in federal court in San Diego before the Honorable Margaret M.. McKeown to one count of possession and use of a destructive device to commit a crime of violence, to wit: conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c). As part of her guilty plea, Sanders admitted that she conspired with others to construct and detonate a series of pipe bombs, including the bombs used against the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Courthouse in San Diego on May 4, 2008, and a Federal Express distribution center in San Diego on April 25, 2008.

In her plea, Sanders admitted that she purchased explosive material and stole pipes for the purpose of constructing pipe bombs. Sanders admitted that she and a co-conspirator constructed two pipe bombs, which were then used against the Federal Express distribution center on 47th Street in San Diego on April 25, 2008. Sanders also admitted that, on May 3, 2008, she helped the co-conspirator construct three more pipe bombs. The next day, Sanders helped the co-conspirator conceal her identity shortly before the conspirator detonated three pipe bombs at the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Courthouse.

On September 25, 2008, Eric Robinson pled guilty before United States Magistrate Judge Peter C. Lewis to the same conspiracy charge as Sanders. Robinson’s guilty plea was entered subject to final acceptance by Judge McKeown. Today, Judge McKeown formally accepted Robinson’s guilty plea. Robinson is scheduled to appear before Judge McKeown in federal court in San Diego for sentencing on June 15, 2009 and Sanders is scheduled for sentencing on August 3, 2009, both at 9:30 a.m.

DEFENDANTS
Criminal Case No. 08-CR-1895-MMM
Ella Louise Sanders
Eric Reginald Robinson

SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c) - Possession of a Destructive Device in Relation to a Crime of Violence; Maximum penalties: Not less than 30 years in prison

The Border Fence between Canada and U.S. A Painted line

By Keith B. Richburg Washington Post

DERBY LINE, Vt. -- The changes started coming slowly to this small town where the U.S. border with Canada runs across sleepy streets, through houses and families, and smack down the middle of the shared local library.

First was the white, painted lettering on the pavement on three little side streets -- "Canada" on one side, "U.S.A." on the other. Then came the white pylons denoting which side of the border was which. After that, signboards were erected on some streets, ordering drivers to turn back and use an officially designated entry point.
And along with the signposts came an influx of American Border Patrol agents, cruising through the town in their green-and-white sport-utility vehicles with sirens, chasing down cars and mopeds that ignored the posted warnings.

For longtime residents accustomed to a simpler life that flowed freely across a largely invisible border, the final shock -- and what made most people really take notice -- was a proposal by the border agents last year to erect fences on the small streets to officially barricade the United States from Canada, and neighbor from neighbor.

"They're stirring up a little hate and discontent with that deal," said Claire Currier, who grew up in this border area and works at Brown's Drug Store, which has operated on the same spot since 1884. "It's like putting up a barrier. We've all intermingled for years."

For the Department of Homeland Security, the changes are part of a gradual fortification of America's northern border that began shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and has accelerated in recent years.

The hardening of the northern frontier is unsettling to many in the small towns along the border. For as long as most of these people can remember, the line between the United States and Canada has been little more than a historic curiosity, rather than the hard and fast demarcation that is America's southern border.

Named the Secure Border Initiative, the project calls for more than tripling the number of agents along the northern border, adding boats and helicopters, and deploying sophisticated new technology including hundreds of millions of dollars in new communications equipment, radiation detectors and three different types of camera-mounted sensors in the uninhabited wooded areas.

"It was freer before, but we live in a different world now," said agent Mark Henry, the operations officer at the Border Patrol's Swanton Sector, headquartered in Swanton, Vt. The sector encompasses about 24,000 square miles, extending from the town of Champlain, in Upstate New York, on the east all the way across to the border with Maine. The sector now has 250 agents, up from 180 three years ago, and the number is scheduled to reach 300 next year.

In 2001, there were 340 agents along the entire border with Canada.

"We're more visible," Henry said. "We've gotten more aircraft, more vehicles, more boats, more ATVs -- pretty much everything, we've got more. And we've got more people to man them."

"9/11 changed everything," said Border Patrol agent Fernando Beltran, the operations chief for Swanton Sector's Newport station, which includes Derby Line. "This may have been Mayberry before, but it's not anymore."

Residents of this town of 776 understand the need for enhanced security. They also wistfully remember a time when neighbors easily crossed into another country to visit neighbors. People went to church and to school on either side of the line. Members of the same family lived on either side. Some streets, an old factory, the local library and opera house, and a few houses straddle the line.
I have one brother -- he's American. He was born on the U.S. side. I was born on the Canadian side," said Arthur Brewer, who is 76. "It was like there was no border -- people back and forth.

"Actually, we're like one people," he added, "like two brothers, one family."

Brewer lives in Canada but walks a few miles almost every day to Brown's Drug Store, saying: "I'm always over here, chatting with the girls. This is the best pharmacy in the world." Brewer said he doesn't have a passport but knows he will have to get one soon, because rule changes next year will require it to cross the border.
"We living in a different world now," Brewer added. "It's too bad."

Lifelong resident Karen Jenne, the Derby Line town clerk and treasurer, said: "I went to church on the other side. I taught Sunday school there. I live on one of those unguarded streets -- I used to cross the border all the time."

Jenne sits on a committee formed when the border agents proposed erecting fences on the three mostly residential streets where the United States and Canada touch. The committee has a dozen members -- five from here in Derby Line, five from Stanstead, the Canadian town on the other side, as well as Beltran, the Border Patrol agent in charge, and his Canadian counterpart
Townsfolk are concerned about practical issues with fences. The two sides share a water system, a sewer system and snow-removal services. For years, the fire departments of both sides have helped each other without regard to a border, and fences, they fear, might disrupt travel routes for emergency vehicles.

"It hasn't been an easy issue for either side to digest," Jenne said. "But we understand that Border Patrol and Homeland Security have a job to do. . . . The general public doesn't understand what's crossing that border, whether it's drugs or illegals."

The Border Patrol agents are sympathetic to the residents' concerns. "It's trying for the community," Beltran said.

"They understand that there's a change, but to them it's a way of life," Beltran said as he cruised through the town streets in an unmarked SUV. "They never considered themselves in danger. There's a sense of security here."

But for the border agents, Sept. 11 exposed the vulnerability of America's northern frontier and the ease with which anyone -- a terrorist with a portable nuclear device, for example -- could cross into the United States from Canada using one of the multitude of unguarded back roads or forest paths, or, in a border town such as Derby Line, simply by crossing the street.

Beltran said he instructs his agents to use discretion and "common sense." It goes like this: "If a kid [on the Canada side] throws a Frisbee over here, he can come and get it. But if he got the Frisbee and kept walking down to the Arby's to get a soda, we're going to stop you."

"We can't be wrong once," Beltran added. "If we're wrong once, that could be devastating to the whole country."

The new vigilance has led to more arrests of people crossing illegally and interdiction of contraband, mostly drugs. Border agents in this sector said that last year they arrested people from 117 different countries trying to enter the United States illegally. Among the drugs, agents say, they have confiscated large shipments of ecstasy pills being smuggled in, as well as shipments of extra-potent hydroponic marijuana.

The resources here are still a small fraction of what is deployed on the southern border with Mexico. But with the increased Border Patrol presence, the North is starting to look more like what border residents of Texas, California and Arizona have been seeing for years.

As the that presence has increased, so has the risk of violence. Agents in the Swanton sector recall three relatively recent incidents when agents fired their weapons -- most recently when an agent was being beaten by a man he stopped. The agent fell over a guardrail, lost his glasses and fired to chase the suspect away.

"There's a lot of violence on the southern border, so some of that's going to transfer up here," said Norman Lague, the patrol agent in charge of the Champlain station The northern border, some agents say, presents more complex problems. Besides the few border towns such as Derby Line and nearby Beebe Plain, much of the border consists of forests, woods, cornfields, lakes and rivers.

"You can see the challenges we're faced with patrolling," Lague said, as he steered his SUV through the trees down one of the now-barricaded forest roads. "To protect this area, it's enormous. It's huge. It's wide open. You've got to know what you're doing to be an agent up here."

Lague is a 13-year veteran agent, who spent most of his time patrolling the area around Derby Line, where he grew up, before spending five years on the border with Mexico. One difference, he said, is that "there's a delineated line with Mexico. . . . Here, if you were to walk around this town, you would probably walk into Canada and not even know it."

A large part of the job, Lague and the others said, is community outreach and educating border residents that the way of life they have known for generations has profoundly changed.

"We interact with the public," Lague said, "so they understand we're not doing this stuff because of them; we're doing it to protect them.

"The patrol work may vary from our southern border," Lague added, "but our strategy is the same throughout the nation."

Terrorists crossing thru the Mexican Border? Myth or a lie?

Virginia Man Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison on Weapons of mass destruction and Explosives Charges Following Arrest on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON— A Virginia man has been sentenced to 22 years in prison following his conviction on multiple weapons charges, including possession of explosives and the attempted manufacture or possession of a weapon of mass destruction near the U.S. Capitol in January 2008, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeffrey A. Taylor and U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Chief Phillip D. Morse Sr. announced today.

Michael Stephen Gorbey, 38, received the sentence earlier today in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia before the Honorable Gregory Jackson, who said “it was only by the Grace of God that nobody was hurt.” The court also stated that “there is a very dangerous side” to Gorbey.

Gorbey was found guilty on May 19, 2008, by a Superior Court jury of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; two counts of carrying a dangerous weapon; possession of an unregistered firearm; eight counts of possession of unregistered ammunition; possessing, transporting or transferring explosives; and attempted manufacture or possession of a weapon of mass destruction. This case marks the first time that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia charged a person with attempting to manufacture or possess a weapon of mass destruction based upon the local District of Columbia statute that was passed in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Evidence at trial showed that on Jan. 18, 2008, Gorbey drove into the District of Columbia after being told that he could not get an appointment with U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Gorbey had purportedly requested an appointment with the Chief Justice to tell him about a massive government conspiracy that Gorbey believed included attempts on Gorbey’s life. After driving into the District of Columbia, Gorbey parked his truck several blocks away from the Supreme Court. The defendant then put on a bullet-proof vest and armed himself with a pump-action shotgun, 27 rounds of shotgun ammunition and a sword that was nearly three feet long. Gorbey then started walking down First Street, NE, towards the U.S. Supreme Court. A citizen alerted officers who confronted Gorbey at gunpoint. After ignoring several orders to drop his weapon, the defendant finally placed the shotgun on the ground and officers took him into custody.

Officers located Gorbey’s truck in the unit block of D Street, NE, and a trained canine indicated there were explosives inside of the truck. Members of the USCP Hazardous Devices Unit detonated a small charge inside of the truck to disrupt a suspected bomb, and then searched the truck. The officers did not locate any explosives; however, they did locate approximately 750 additional rounds of ammunition. After the search of the vehicle by the bomb technicians, the vehicle was towed to a government facility in the District of Columbia, where it was secured for further investigation. Three weeks later, officers conducted a more thorough search of the truck after obtaining a search warrant. During this search, a crime scene search officer located a homemade bomb behind the bench seat of the truck. The bomb was made out of a bottle of lead shot and a box of shotgun shells that were duct-taped to a metal can of black gunpowder. This device was disrupted using a high-velocity stream of water and the remnants of the bomb were sent to the FBI’s forensics laboratory in Quantico, Va. An expert who examined the device found what appeared to be a small hole in the can that could have been used to hold a fuse for the bomb. This same expert testified that if detonated, the device could have caused death or serious bodily injury to multiple people.

“Today’s sentence recognizes the significant threat that Gorbey posed to the public at large and to those government officials he believed had offended him,” said U.S. Attorney Taylor. “As the court noted today, but for the professionalism and patience of the uniformed members of the U.S. Capitol Police, this could easily have developed into a deadly confrontation. This case serves as an important reminder of the risks that law enforcement officers take each day to protect the citizens, employees and institutions of the Nation’s Capitol.”

“I am very proud of the U.S. Capitol Police officers who successfully prevented a dangerous felon from inflicting harm to our community,” said USCP Chief Morse. “We also want to thank the Assistant U.S. Attorneys for their outstanding work and prosecution of Gorbey. These outstanding efforts and the combined teamwork have resulted in getting a felon off the streets.”

In announcing today’s sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor and USCP Chief Morse commended USCP Liaison Sergeant Wayne Howell who coordinated efforts to interview dozens of officers who were involved in this case; USCP Criminal Investigators Mark Crawford, Joseph DePalma, Dennis Holland and Hugh Thatcher; USCP Uniformed Officers Peter Geyer, Deeben Kang, Daniel Nutter, Bryan Carter, Ryan Gainey, Tony Buffington, David Berkeley, J. Creekmur and Matthew Tighe; USCP Evidence Technicians Jonathan Klipa, Mark Schwalm, Paul West, Frank Pollack, Lonnie Lane, Matthew Shelfo and Joel Hobbs; USCP Hazardous Devices Unit members Sergeant Michael DeCarlo, Sergeant Charles Wood, Robert Simpson, Yusef Norris, Robert Simmons, Daniel Aranyosi, Anthony Sancho and Peter Schulze; USCP Officers Shannon Gadsby and Melissa Allison; Joint Terrorism Task Force members Special Agent Patrick Race, Special Agent Michael Matten, Special Agent Aidan Garcia and Special Agent Bryan Hayes; and the FBI Supervisory Special Agent Daniel Hickey, who testified at trial as the government's expert witness on explosives and explosive devices. In addition, U.S. Attorney Taylor and USCP Chief Morse cited the efforts of several members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office staff, including Litigation Services Technicians Timothy Linders and Errol Spears; Paralegal Phalyn Hunt; Intelligence Analyst Larry Grasso; and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Kerkhoff and John Cummings who investigated and prosecuted the case.

Canada Open Border. It’s a unique situation and it requires a unique solution.





" But from a security standpoint, most of the threats around the northern border revolve around terrorism, and most of the threats on the southern border revolve around immigration ".

Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Paul Schneider joined U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., at the Port of Scobey on Monday during a tour of the northern border between Montana and Saskatchewan.

Accompanied by Secret Service agents, Schneider arrived shortly after noon by helicopter at the U.S. Border Patrol station in Scobey, located about 14 miles south of the Scobey Port of Entry.

Homeland Security’s No. 2 man, Schneider said he was not personally familiar with the remote region of the border. But after a 90-minute flight and a tour of the Scobey facility, the Washington, D.C., official admitted his surprise at the breadth of terrain crossing the state’s northern tier.

“It’s a unique situation and it requires a unique solution, basically, in how you control the border,’’ Schneider said. “It’s absolutely essential to get a bird’s eye view of the ground. It will help inform the decision-making process.’’

Schneider’s arrival in Montana kicked off a series of border tours and community hearings that began Monday morning at the Sheridan County Courthouse in Plentywood and is scheduled to end Wednesday with a Senate field hearing in Havre.

“By his own admission, (Schneider) said he would not have believed the border’s rural nature unless he had seen it firsthand,’’ Tester said. “Because of our rural nature, we have challenges at this border that are different than anywhere else.

Tester, a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, has spent the last year advocating improvements to U.S. security along the northern border, particularly the 550 miles spanning Montana and the three Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

In that year, Tester helped pass legislation securing $3 billion for security upgrades for all U.S. ports and borders, and pushed for a series of reviews on border vulnerabilities and needed improvements.

“There’s a lot of emphasis going to the southern border, and I’m not going to say that’s right or wrong,’’ Tester said during the town-hall meeting in Plentywood. “But from a security standpoint, most of the threats around the northern border revolve around terrorism, and most of the threats on the southern border revolve around immigration.’’

During the morning meeting, Tester took comments from area residents, many of whom do business across the northern border or have Canadian spouses.

Some in the audience asked why they had to travel to Helena, more than 500 miles away, to acquire paperwork for Canadian family members when a 24-hour port of entry sat just minutes away.

Other questions focused on green cards, citizenship and immigration reform and extended hours at several ports of entry.

“There’s not an awareness in Washington of the distance in Montana,’’ said state Rep. Julie French, D-Scobey, who spoke at the Plentywood meeting. “The other issue is fees. We saw a huge jump in passport fees. When you have a family of five in Scobey who travel across the border because they have family there, it kills us.’’

“My wife should have been Mexican,’’ added Gary Steinberg, an area resident. “It would have been easier for her to get a green card.’’

Tester noted the concerns and later said it was good to hear from those on the ground about the issues they’re concerned about.

Tester added that improved border security doesn’t have to take place at the expense of smooth commerce and strong U.S.-Canadian relations.

In recent months, some Canadian officials have expressed concerns that a ramp-up in border security could stop commerce in its tracks.

“On the northern tier, there’s a lot of business that goes on on both sides of the border,’’ Tester said. “It’s got to be secure, but it’s also got to work, and I think we can have both

The Terrorist among us. Know your Enemy on Domestic Terrorism. Isn't a Hispanic or Latino.




Why the Vigilantes Tomas (Tom) Tancredo, Louis (Lou)Dobbs, Esteban (Steve) King stereotyping and blaming Hispanics, Latinos as a Terrorists? That's Just ashamed...

MAN INVOLVED IN DOMESTIC TERRORISM PLOT TARGETING MILITARY AND JEWISH FACILITIES SENTENCED TO 22 YEARS

SANTA ANA, Calif.—A former inmate in a California state prison who became part of a domestic terrorist cell that planned to attack United States military operations, “infidels,” and Israeli and Jewish facilities in the Los Angeles area was sentenced this morning to 22 years in federal prison.

Levar Washington, 30, who was recruited into the terrorist cell while in state prison and subsequently recruited others into the plot, was sentenced this morning by United States District Judge Cormac J. Carney. Washington pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to wage war against the United States and a weapons charge.

Two other defendants in the case—Kevin James, who formed the terrorist group which he dubbed Jam’iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, or JIS, while in a California state prison, and Gregory Patterson—also pleaded guilty last year to the terrorism conspiracy charge. Patterson is scheduled to be sentenced on July 9, and James is scheduled to be sentenced on February 9, 2009.

In plea agreements filed in federal court, James, Washington and Patterson admitted that they conspired “to levy war against the government of the United States through terrorism, and to oppose by force the authority of the United States government.”

The fourth member of JIS named in an indictment—Hammad Samana—has been found unfit to stand trial and is currently receiving psychiatric care at a federal prison facility.

“The JIS terrorist group posed a significant threat of violent action against a variety of targets,” said United States Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien. “Through the fine work of members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, potentially deadly attacks were averted. Now, one of the members of this terrorism cell will not pose a danger to the United States for nearly a quarter century.”

Salvador Hernandez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, stated: "This case reminds us that Los Angeles is an attractive target for homegrown or radicalized terrorists, as well as state-sponsored terrorists. Los Angeles was spared a potentially devastating attack because of excellent police work and a cohesive team effort by JTTF members. This case serves as an example of how local officers are serving in the front lines in the war on terrorism."

After forming JIS in 1997 while in state prison, James recruited Washington into the organization in late 2004 while both were prisoners at New Folsom Prison, where James had Washington swear an oath of loyalty and obedience to James and to JIS. After his release from prison several weeks after taking the JIS oath, Washington recruited Patterson and Samana into JIS and had them swear oaths of allegiance and obedience to JIS. After forming this cell, Washington and Patterson conducted about a dozen armed robberies of gas stations to obtain money for the group’s planned attacks in the Los Angeles area.

Samana researched targets and prepared a document called “Modes of Attack.” The document listed “LAX and Consulate of Zion,” “Military Targets,” “Army Recruiting centers throughout the county,” “Military base in Manhattan Beach” and “Campsite of Zion.”

After Torrance Police investigators linked Washinton and Patterson to a gas station robbery, various Jihadist documents were found at a South Los Angeles apartment where they lived. In addition to the “Modes of Attack” document, investigators discovered a document titled “Notoriety Moves,” which contained a James-authored statement to be given to the media after a deadly attack. The proposed press statement reads, in part, “This incident is the first in a series of incidents to come in a plight to defend and propagate traditional Islam in its purity.” The document also warns “sincere Muslims” to avoid a series of targets, including “Those Jewish and non-Jewish supporters of an Israeli state.”

The investigation into the terrorist conspiracy was led by the FBI's Long Beach Joint Terrorism Task Force, whose participating agencies include the Los Angeles Police Department; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Torrance Police Department; the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department; the Long Beach Police Department; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Los Angeles Port Police; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service; the Defense Criminal Investigative Service; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and the Redondo Beach Police Department.

Substantial assistance during the investigation was provided by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, Bureau of Investigations; the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; the California Department of Justice; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations; and the Department of Defense.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office worked collaboratively with the United States Attorney’s Office during the investigation

LOU DOBBS NIGHTMARE. HIS PANICS SPECIALLY MEXICANS. WOULD THEIR PUNISHMENT FIT THEIR CRIME?. SINCE WHEN SEARCHING FOR A BETTER LIFE IS A CRIME?


U.S. Canada border is a security nightmare. When CNN ran the debate, the Lou Dobbs network made sure that the first half-hour was devoted to Undocumented immigration and Broken border not borders.
Why Mexico and Mexicans are treated worst than Terrorist? What crime Mexicans or Mexico committed to be treated this way?. They have been persecuted, scapegoating, blamed, demonized, stereotyping, diminished. We do have problems with Undocumented immigrants on the southern border, but we have problems with terrorists and smugglers, Drug Dealers on the northern border.” we found no terrorist presence in Mexico and a number of Canadian-based terrorists who have entered the United States.

The big difference between a Mexican and a Terrorist is that Mexicans will die for feeding their families rather than Terrorists who's will die and Kill innocent people for their belief and anger.

In Washington state’s Pasayten Wilderness Area, agents patrol the rough backcountry on horseback. The 12 mustangs roamed wild on federal lands before they were rounded up and broken.
South of Ottawa, along the St. Lawrence River in an area know as Thousand Islands, agents chase smugglers known as river rats — mom and pop operators running cigarettes, liquor and drugs across the border into New York.

In Derby Line, Vt., the Haskell Free Library and Opera House straddles the border. The front door is in the United States. The checkout desk is in Canada. That could come to an end. Earlier this year, two vans carrying 21 Undocumented immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere were stopped in Derby Line.

Residents of North Dakota and Minnesota fear their cold winters may have frozen the motion detectors along their border with Canada.

Along Montana’s Sweetgrass Hills and Milk River, the border, in some places, is separated by nothing more than a broken fence. In one incident, a rancher in Montana’s desolate prairie stopped two Jamaicans dressed in T-shirts and shorts.

“It would be difficult to secure the (northern) border with the assets we have there now,” said Greg Kutz, a Government Accountability Office investigator and author of a recent study that found terrorists carrying nuclear material could easily enter the United States from Canada.

SECURITY FALLS SHORT

While Colburn and others say there is no hard evidence showing illegal activity has increased on the northern border, Sheriff Elfo said there is mounting anecdotal evidence. He points to the discovery in August of two backpacks hidden in a ditch near the Black Mountain Boy Scout Camp north of Silver Lake, between Maple Falls and the Canadian border. The backpacks contained about 68 pounds of cocaine, with a street value of about $1.2 million.

Colburn is well aware of the problems.

“We are nowhere near where we think we should be,” he said in an interview about security along the northern border. “But we are getting there faster than ever before.”

Customs and Border Protection now has air wings in Bellingham, Great Falls, Mont., Grand Forks, N.D, and Plattsburg, N.Y. The air wings include Blackhawk helicopters, surveillance aircraft and Predator unmanned aerial vehicles. In addition to “boots on the ground,” Colburn said agents use all-terrain vehicles, Zodiac inflatable boats and snowmobiles. Motion detectors, radar and infrared technology also are deployed.
“Just because you don’t see us doesn’t mean we don’t see you,” Colburn said.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers from northern border states remain frustrated. Given the outrage over undocumented workers flooding in from Mexico, they remain skeptical the Border Patrol will ever pay enough attention to the northern border.

“They aren’t leaning forward on this,” said Rep. Norm Dicks, DWash., a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Congress wants to add as many as 600 additional agents to northern border patrols. But some say even that isn’t enough.

“There will still be a huge inequity,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. “We do have problems with illegal immigrants on the southern border, but we have problems with terrorists on the northern border.”

CANADA’S TERRORISM RISK

Given Canada’s open immigration policies, terrorist organizations have established cells there seeking “safe havens, operational bases and attempting to gain access to the USA,” according to a 1998 report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The report said more than 50 terrorist groups may be present, including Hezbollah, Hamas and radical Islamic groups from Iran and Algeria.

A 2006 report from the Nixon Center, a Washington, D.C., think tank, quoted a senior FBI official as saying Canada is the most worrisome terrorist point of entry and al- Qaida training manuals advise terrorists to enter the United States from Canada.

The report concluded that “despite widespread alarms raised over terrorist infiltration from Mexico, we found no terrorist presence in Mexico and a number of Canadian-based terrorists who have entered the United States.”

Among them were Ahmed Ressam — the so-called Millennium Bomber who was stopped in 1999 by an alert agent at a border crossing in Port Angeles, before he could carry out a plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport — and Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer, a Palestinian terrorist who was mistakenly released after being stopped near Bellingham in 1997. He then moved to Brooklyn where he was later convicted of plotting to bomb a New York City subway station.

“They have to be concerned about the Canadian border,” said Robert Leiken, one of the authors of the Nixon Center study. “If they aren’t, we are in a lot of trouble.”

Law enforcement officials say the presence of suspected terrorists in Canada is a worry, and they share intelligence on the threat daily.

“The fact that we have identified people connected with terrorism who have crossed the border shows we are paying attention,” said Mike Cabana, a chief superintendent with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who oversees border security.

Canadians are aware that the crackdown on the U.S.-Mexico border could affect them.

“If the U.S.-Mexico border is sealed, it is safe to assume criminality will be displaced and it is logical to assume it could affect the northern border,” said Cabana. “Of course we are concerned, but it is too early to tell whether it will make a difference.”

WHATCOM COUNTY VIEW

Back in Blaine, down the street from the Smuggler’s Inn, Shirley- Ann Leu says she and her husband, Herbert, have learned to live with Border Patrol agents sitting on their back retaining wall, the RCMP flashing lights in their yard at 3 a.m. and the helicopter patrols.
“The big cameras are going round and round all the time,” she said. “They know every car in the neighborhood. You get used to it.”

Despite the heightened security, Sheriff Elfo said he remains anxious about the terrorists, drug smugglers and illegal immigrants who view the Canadian border as an easy route into the United States.
“The help from the feds has improved dramatically,” he said. “But we know individuals and contraband continue to cross regularly.”

Guantanamo Terrorist suspects can challenge their detentions.




WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has ruled that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the U.S. Constitution to challenge their detention in civilian courts.

The justices, in a 5-4 ruling Thursday, handed the Bush administration its third setback at the high court since 2004 over its treatment of prisoners who are being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

"We hold these petitioners do have the habeas corpus privilege," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court majority in the 70-page opinion.

He said that Congress had failed to create an adequate alternative for the prisoners held at the U.S. military base in Cuba to contest their detention.

It was not immediately clear whether this ruling, unlike the first two, would lead to prompt hearings for the detainees, some of whom have been held more than 6 years.

Roughly 270 men remain at the island prison, classified as enemy combatants and held on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Guantanamo Detainees Face Mental Health Threat.



Human Rights Watch says more than two-thirds of the people held at the Guantanamo Bay prison are housed in inhumane conditions that could damage their mental health.

The New York-based group reported Tuesday that 185 of the 270 detainees at the U.S. military prison for terrorism suspects are kept in small, isolated cells and have limited human contact.

The report says even though some of the prisoners have not been charged with any crime or have been cleared for release or transfer, they are locked up for 22 hours a day with little or no natural light or fresh air. It says their two-hour recreation time is generally spent alone, often in the middle of the night.

The U.S. military has repeatedly said it treats the prisoners according to international standards.

The report also says the detainees have not been allowed family visits and few have been able to call home. Several are reportedly suffering from depression and anxiety disorders.

Human Rights Watch says military officials at Guantanamo have said they plan to increase prisoners' recreation time and allow detainees to congregate. The group says the prison has not announced a schedule for the changes.

A counterterrorism expert with Human Rights Watch, Jennifer Daskal, warns that the prison conditions are creating damaging psychological effects that will breed hatred and resentment of the United States over the long term.

She says the Guantanamo prison should be reformed and, ultimately, closed.

The United States has long been under international and domestic pressure to close the prison camp, where critics say human rights have been abused. The U.S. government denies allegations of abuse. And President George Bush, has said he, too, wants to see it eventually shut down.

The prison opened in 2002 to detain people suspected of committing terrorism.

I think race is definitely a factor in the immigration issue even on some Republican politicians.



The differences on their positions are quite similars. They seems that the only Undocumented Immigrants, Terrorists and drug dealers are coming from Mexico.

On immigration, all four Republicans running to represent the 52nd Congressional District – Duncan D. Hunter, Brian Jones, Rick L. Powell, and Bob Watkins – say they would tighten border security by lengthening the border fence, and they oppose amnesty for those who have entered the country illegally.

Democratic candidate Mike Lumpkin said he would use technology, an extended fence and increased Border Patrol presence to stem the flow of illegal immigrants. Lumpkin's opponent in the Democratic primary, Vickie Butcher, would increase funding for the U.S. Border Patrol and hire more agents. Butcher said she would try to improve the quality of identification materials.

Lumpkin said he would tackle border security before attempting a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws. Butcher said she would support taking a broad look at immigration laws, including allowing paths to citizenship for some illegal immigrants.

Libertarian candidate Michael Benoit supports more legal immigration, and would withdraw American troops from Iraq and reassign them to the U.S.-Mexico border.

On health care, all four Republicans oppose a government-run, single-payer system and said they would seek alternative ways to expand access.

Hunter would allow more people to pay for health care using pre-taxable income. Jones would work to eliminate “frivolous” health care lawsuits that he said drive up costs, and look for tax incentives for businesses and individuals. Watkins supports personal savings accounts and portable insurance plans that workers can take with them when they change jobs. Powell would cut down on regulation that he said discourages some small businesses from providing coverage.

Lumpkin supports a single-payer system but first would increase funding for the federal government's State Children's Health Insurance Program. Butcher believes a single-payer system should be the eventual goal, and also supports increasing SCHIP funding.
Benoit is opposed to government involvement in health care

Immigration topic framed by the Media as the only Undocumented Immigrants coming to U.S. are from Mexico.





Nobody seems to be much concerned about security reasons along the Canadian border where seems wide open.

Getting to the Whitlash Port of Entry involves a 40-mile drive down a dirt road that never seems to end. One hill climbs into another, and there’s the elephant in the car you can’t ignore.

That elephant, of sorts, is the public relations officer for the Havre sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, the guy doing the driving. He’s a former Marine and was kind enough to haul us around, though he won’t reveal the details surrounding the operations going on up here.

Security reasons, he says.

We’re the media and he’s the government. There’s a natural distrust between the two of us and it keeps us talking all the way to Whitlash. By the time we get there, I think he’s on our side, at least in the way of the public’s right to know what its government is doing.

Less than three minutes after we pull up to the Whitlash station, a man with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection comes out, fidgeting nervously. He’s overwhelmed with the paperwork passed down to him by headquarters over in Sweetgrass, and his computer keeps crashing.

Besides, he said, he didn’t know we were coming and that could be a problem. He needs to make some phone calls. He needs to get clearance. What did we want, anyway? His time? He doesn’t have it to give.

Our guide grins and says he’ll figure this out. He follows the Customs officer back into the station and returns moments later.

“This is the deal,” begins our guide. He says we can’t take pictures of the officers or the buildings until the boss in Sweetgrass grants permission.
“I’ve already taken pictures of the building,” photographer George Lane grumbles.

This is where the awkward silence sets in. Our guide asks that we not run the pictures we’ve already taken until we get clearance. I imagine confiscated film, but this is the wrong country for that. The photographer replies that we don’t need clearance, anyway, because he took the photos from a public road.

“And it’s a public building,” he shrugs.

The silence grows thicker. We’ve reached an impasse on the Montana prairie, waiting for a phone call from Sweetgrass that may or may not come.

There’s nothing in any direction. Whitlash is like an outpost on Tatooine, and I can feel the camera watching — the little white box mounted atop a wooden telephone pole.

The day before, we had toured the Sweetgrass Port of Entry 40 miles west. There, I had seen the control room with the television screens — the real-time video that helps the officers there keep on eye on things here.

The Canadian flag flaps in the wind beyond the camera and the sign that says “You are now leaving the United States.” The signs beyond that are in French and the words seem unnecessarily long.

“Hey, George,” I say. “What do you say we walk over there and say hello to the Canadians?”
“Can’t hurt,” George says.

Down in New Mexico with the Montana National Guard in April, I found, there was no way to jump the fence and chat with the Mexicans. But here on the 49th parallel, you can walk down a dirt road and shake a Canadian’s hand, so long as the U.S. Customs officers are willing to let you back into the country once you leave.

“Got your ID?” George asks.

“Yeah. Got yours? Good. Let’s go see.”

This is no-man’s land. The distance between the U.S. port and the Canadian post is about 100 yards. There’s a bush or two between them and a small white car parked on the Canadian side. The door to the Canadian post is unlocked. The place looks empty inside.

The lone Canadian customs officer sits at a desk around the corner, smoking a cigarette. He looks like Santiago from the Old Man and the Sea with his long gray beard and white hair. The patch on the man’s arm says “l’Agence des services frontaliers du Canada.”

“Ello,” he says, but he doesn’t get up. “Star Wars” plays on the television. A cat sleeps in a box on the counter and the crumbs of catnip are scattered nearby.

Compared to the frenzy across the border at the American post, this place is downright relaxed. The officer is friendly, cracking jokes, real mellow. He lives in a cabin behind the port, out here in the middle of nowhere.

“You’ve got to be something of a recluse to do it, eh,” he says, grinning.

It’s easy to make generalizations at moments like this — how the Canadians are relaxed and the Americans are stressed. The Canadians are friendly with the world. The Americans are at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, arming Israel, disarming North Korea, siding with the Sunnis to suppress al Qaeda, and pondering a move into Pakistan.

Sure, the Canadian border isn’t exactly open, but it’s not Fort Knox, either. The Canadian agents didn’t even carry guns until recently. Really, it’s hard to hate a country that gave us the McKenzie Brothers and sayings like, “Take off, you hoser.”

Anyway, we’ve had our fun with the Canadian and he with us. It’s time to see if the boss over in Sweetgrass has given the U.S. Customs officer permission to speak with us.

“Got your ID?” asks George.

“Yep. Let’s go see if they’ll let us back in.”

The case and testimony of passport and Identity fraud: Ahmed Ressam.







He Isn't a Latino or Mexican!!!!!!! Ouch but they want to build a wall against Mexican Border because it's the major corridor of Terrorists. Right Lou Dobbs, Tommy Tancredo?.

When Ahmed Ressam was caught at the Canadian-U.S. border, he was using a false Canadian passport with the alias Benni Noris. He was carrying fake identification with another alias. And investigators soon discovered he had entered Canada using yet another fake passport, from France. He had also manipulated Canada's asylum system by applying for political asylum at the border, knowing that the Canadian authorities would refer his case to another agency and let him stay in Canada while he waited for his asylum hearing.

Here are short excerpts from his trial testimony specifically dealing with Ressam's use of fake passports and how his terrorist network relied on them:

Q. What type of travel document did you use to get into Canada?
A. A fake French passport.

Q. What city did you go to?
A. To the city of Montreal.

Q. What happened when you arrived to Montreal?
A. Immigration stopped me.

Q. At the airport?
A. Yes. Immigration stopped me at the airport. At that time, I requested asylum.

Q. And how did you request -- how did you request asylum?
A. I provided them with a false story about -- to request political asylum. They kept me at their center there and then they let me go.

Q. When they let you go, what city did you live in?
A. I lived in the city of Montreal.

Q. How long did you live in Montreal?
A. From 1994 to 1998.

Q. How did you support yourself during that four-year period?
A. I lived on welfare and theft.

Q. What do you mean by "theft"?
A. I used to steal tourists, rob tourists. I used to go to hotels and find their suitcases and steal them when they're not paying attention.

Q. And what would you do with the contents of those suitcases?
A. I used to take the money, keep the money, and if there are passports, I would sell them, and if there are Visa credit cards, I would use them up, and if there were any traveler's checks, I would use them or sell them.

Ressam describes how a lieutenant of Osama bin Laden's asked Ressam to provide the group with Canadian passports:

Q. What country did you see Abu Zubeida in?
A. In Pakistan.

Q. He was leader of the camps?
A. Yes.

Q. Did you discuss anything when you met with Abu Zubeida on your return back to Canada?
A. Yes. He asked me to send him some passports, some original passports if I had that he can use to give other, give to other people who had come to carry out operations in U.S.

Q. What type of passports was he looking for?
A. Canadian passports, but original.

Q. Did he tell you the names of the people he wanted those passports for?
A. He gave me some of the names.

Trail of a Terrorist and How they use fake Passport to enter the United States thru Any International Port of entry!!!!!!!!!!!




Over and over again, investigators examining the Al Qaeda terrorist network point to a common thread -- the ease with which many in the network travel the world using fake passports or illegally obtained immigration documents.

Ahmed Ressam, the focus of this FRONTLINE report, was somewhat of an expert in fake passports. He used a counterfeit French passport to enter Canada and apply for political asylum. While living there, he supplied fake Canadian passports to other Algerians. And he used a fake Canadian passport under the alias of Benni Noris in his failed attempt to enter the United States and bomb Los Angeles International Airport.

Ressam recently testified that he was trained in these and other "security" techniques at one of Osama bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan. He also testified that an Al Qaeda representative had recruited him to supply the group with false Canadian passports.

The picture of Al Qaeda that is emerging through Ressam's case and ongoing investigations is of a sophisticated terrorist network, able to send "sleeper" agents like Ressam anywhere in the world. Al Qaeda depends on the ability to travel internationally in order to raise funds, recruit operatives, train the operatives in Afghanistan and send them out to plan and conduct terrorist attacks. Key to their international mobility is being able to circumvent immigration laws and law enforcement "watch lists."

Passports

Investigators believe that there may be specialized Al Qaeda terrorist cells in the U.S., Canada, and Europe whose only job is to supply Al Qaeda with passports and other documents that can be used by its operatives. There are various ways they obtain and use passports:

The terrorist can physically alter a valid passport -- stolen or purchased from an accomplice -- by changing the picture or biographical data. "The terrorists are smart about which passports they use," says David Simcox, director of migration demographics and chairman of the board of the Center for Immigration Studies. "At least two of the Sept. 11 attackers used stolen Saudi Arabian passports. Saudi Arabia is a friend of the United States and so using their passport makes it easier to get in at the border."

In some countries, terrorists may be able to purchase an official passport in their own name, or an alias, by bribing a corrupt official or obtaining one in the black market. Stolen passports are readily available for sale in most countries. The most popular ones on the international black market are those from countries that enjoy visa-free relationships with the United States, such as Japan or Sweden.

The terrorist can make a counterfeit passport, hoping that the border agent wouldn't be able to identify the forgery. "The INS has a forensic document laboratory to train agents to detect these false passports," Simcox says. "But there are so many countries, that it is difficult to track. And some will get through because the quality is getting so good. The technology of counterfeiting is constantly improving." Moreover, according to Simcox, internet sales of fraudulent documents has blossomed in recent years, despite efforts by law enforcement to stop the practice.

There's another angle on the trafficking in fake passports. Congressional hearings on Oct. 17, 2001 revealed relationships between the terrorists and organized criminal syndicates who smuggle humans across borders. It is a huge international business, with brokers in China, India, Africa, and Central and South America and other poor countries demanding up to $50,000 per person in order to smuggle people into the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

To avoid detection, the smugglers are constantly changing their routes and methods. Some also rely on huge numbers of fake passports, routing people through as many as two other countries to hide the country of origin. "The terrorists have made common cause with 'people smugglers' who are very good at supplying false documentation," says Simcox. "It gives the terrorists a ready source of altered counterfeit passports and, if needed, the smugglers may assist them in being smuggled into the United States."

Another aspect of passport fraud is falsifying documents, such as birth certificates, which are needed to acquire a passport. This practice, used by Ahmed Ressam, allows terrorists to get legitimate passports, using an alias, which will be basically foolproof at border crossings. "The American and Canadian passport system has a major problem because its 'breeder' document -- the birth certificate -- is such a weak document for certifying identity," says Simcox. "Despite U.S. State Department procedures for verifying birth certificates, every state is different. And the process is not computerized or centralized in any way."

The birth certificate is a "weak" document because it is relatively easy to forge and has no photo or fingerprint requirement. In the U.S. and Canada, birth certificates can be provided by a number of sources, such as state authorities, churches, and hospitals. Each state has different rules about supplying birth certificates, and acquiring copies of them. Once you have a valid birth certificate, it is relatively easy to get a driver's license, passport, and other fake identification.

Visas

As was clearly evident in the Sept. 11 attacks, many terrorists simply enter the U.S. using their own passports and a student or business visa.

INS officials say there are so many visas given out around the world that it is impossible to check the backgrounds of every person. Two of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackers entered the U.S. by applying to take classes at a university or technical school, acquiring a student visa, and then never showing up for class. Three of the terrorists entered on business or tourism visas and simply overstayed their visa.

(The INS says the number of foreigners in the U.S. who have overstayed their visas currently stands at more than 2 million.) Finally, two of the Sept. 11 hijackers who had been put on an FBI "watch list" while they were in the U.S. on visas were not located.

The INS has little or no capacity to track visa holders once they are in the United States. The issue of entry-exit tracking of visa holders is now being given new priority. INS officials argue that at present, it is impossible to track all foreigners in the U.S., and the agency doesn't have the manpower to physically put people on planes

Over 1,000 fake passports seized in Thailand-Many are in hands of Terrorist..So why build the wall???????????



The passports were sold to a group of Thai and Burmese middlemen who then sold them to gangs engaged in prostitution, terrorism and smuggling, he said.”

Thai authorities have seized more than a thousand fake Asian and Western passports and arrested a man in one of the biggest anti-counterfeiting operations in recent years, police said on Sunday.

Mohammed Karim, a 56-year-old from Bangladesh, was nabbed in a Bangkok townhouse late on Saturday where they found a sophisticated passport making operation and more than 1,000 finished and unfinished documents, Police Major-General Chaktip Chaichinda said.

“He admitted that he made fake passports,” Chaktip told Reuters, adding that his partner, a Myanmar national, escaped arrest.

The passports were for several countries including the United States, New Zealand, France, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Malta. Police seized two computers, a scanner, three printers and rubber stamps for several countries.

“This guy is rich. He has a BMW. He said he made about 300,000-400,000 baht per month (around $10,000),” Chaktip said.

Know your Enemy on domestic Terrorism Hoax and They are not Mexicans or Latinos !!!!!!.

STATE LINE RESIDENT ADMITS TERRORISM HOAX

DUNN LAMPTON, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, and FREDERICK T. BRINK, Special Agent In Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jackson Field Division, announced that JOANNA JEAN LEISURE of State Line, Mississippi, pleaded guilty today to maliciously conveying false information by telephone, knowing the information to be false, concerning an alleged attempt to be made to unlawfully damage and destroy a Greyhound bus by means of explosives. LEISURE entered her plea before the Honorable Keith Starrett, United States District Judge, in Hattiesburg .
As described by the prosecutor in court today, LEISURE telephoned the Greyhound Bus Lines in Hattiesburg on July 16, 2007 to report that a person traveling from Weston , Oregon to Hattiesburg was planning to make a bomb to carry aboard the bus. LEISURE identified the traveler as Abdulaziz Osama AlZaaki, who would be traveling in the company of a female named Sheila. The Hattiesburg Police Department, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, and the FBI were waiting in Hattiesburg when the bus arrived. Abdulaziz Osama AlZaaki and a female named Sheila were among the passengers who disembarked the bus. Neither passenger was carrying any bomb making materials or other suspicious items.

AlZaaki, it was learned, is the nephew of LEISURE, who had received permission from his grandmother in Oregon to stay at a trailer she owns in State Line. (AlZaaki was born in the United States , but his father is from Saudi Arabia .) While AlZaaki was en route from Oregon , LEISURE called AlZaaki’s traveling companion and said she did not want him to come to Mississippi . She said she was going to call the police and say there is a terrorist on the bus.
LEISURE faces a maximum of ten years of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. She also faces up to $250,000 fine and a $100 special assessment.Assistant United States Attorney GAINES CLEVELAND is the prosecutor in charge of the case. Mr. LAMPTON praised the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their diligent work in the investigation of this case.

Canadian Court Frees al-Qaida Suspect but ordered him to remain under house arrest.







TORONTO - A Canadian court freed suspected al-Qaida collaborator Mohamed Harkat from jail on Friday, but ordered him to remain under house arrest until his next hearing.An Algerian refugee living in Ontario since 1995, Harkat was arrested in December 2002 on suspicions that he is an Islamic extremist and member of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. Harkat has vehemently denied the allegations.Harkat spent 3 1/2 years in an Ontario jail under Canada's controversial security certificate regime, which allows authorities to hold a detainee indefinitely without charges and lets the government keep any evidence secret.Harkat was released on bail in June 2006 because of delays in his deportation. But he was arrested earlier this week for allegedly violating bail conditions.According to authorities, Harkat is supposed to live with both of his bail guarantors, his mother-in-law and her partner. However, the court heard that the couple now longer lives together in the same house full time.In a ruling Friday, Federal Court Justice Eleanor Dawson said Harkat will be freed, but must stay inside his Ottawa residence until a court hearing Monday.





When Harkat was in court Thursday contesting his arrest, fellow foreign-born terror suspect Adil Charkaoui, who was also arrested and held under the security certificate regime, was also before the courts to stave off his deportation.The Moroccan-born Charkaoui, a school teacher and part-time graduate student in Montreal, is also accused of being an al-Qaida sympathizer who should be deported. Charkaoui spent 21 months in jail before being released on bail in 2005.Charkaoui denies any terrorist ties. The court reserved judgment on the case Thursday and set no date or a ruling.Charkaoui and Harkat are among a trio of complainants who argued successfully last year that Canada's federal legislation dealing with the deportation of terror suspects was unconstitutional.The Supreme Court of Canada ruled last February that the security certificate process that led to Harkat's incarceration is fundamentally unjust. A proposed new law is now being studied by the federal government.

H.R.1955 - Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. I want to pointed out a couple of interested sections of this bill.

Official: To prevent homegrown terrorism, and for other purposes. as introduced.

Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.
4/19/2007--Introduced.

Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 - Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to add provisions concerning the prevention of homegrown terrorism (terrorism by individuals born, raised, or based and operating primarily in the United States). The secretary of Homeland Security to:
(1) establish a grant program to prevent radicalization (use of an extremist belief system for facilitating ideologically-based violence) and homegrown terrorism in the United States;

(2) establish or designate a university-based Center of Excellence for the Study of Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism in the United States; and

(3) conduct a survey of methodologies implemented by foreign nations to prevent radicalization and homegrown terrorism. Prohibits the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to prevent ideologically-based violence and homegrown terrorism from violating the constitutional and civil rights, and civil liberties, of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.

Did you believe there are some groups who's are falling under these definitions?

SEC. 899A. DEFINITIONS.

`For purposes of this subtitle:

`(1) COMMISSION- The term `Commission' means the National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism established under section 899C.

`(2) VIOLENT RADICALIZATION- The term `violent radicalization' means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change.

`(3) HOMEGROWN TERRORISM- The term `homegrown terrorism' means the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

`(4) IDEOLOGICALLY BASED VIOLENCE- The term `ideologically based violence' means the use, planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual to promote the group or individual's political, religious, or social beliefs.

U.S. Canada border is a security nightmare. When CNN ran the debate, the Lou Dobbs network made sure that the first half-hour was devoted to Undocumented immigration and Broken border not borders. Why Mexico and Mexicans are treated worst than Terrorist? What crime Mexicans or Mexico committed to be treated this way?. They have been persecuted, scapegoating, blamed, demonized, stereotyping, diminished. We do have problems with Undocumented immigrants on the southern border, but we have problems with terrorists on the northern border.” we found no terrorist presence in Mexico and a number of Canadian-based terrorists who have entered the United States
The big difference between a Mexican and a Terrorist is that they will die for feeding their families rather than Terrorist who's will die and Kill innocent people for their belief.



In Washington state’s Pasayten Wilderness Area, agents patrol the rough backcountry on horseback. The 12 mustangs roamed wild on federal lands before they were rounded up and broken.
South of Ottawa, along the St. Lawrence River in an area know as Thousand Islands, agents chase smugglers known as river rats — mom and pop operators running cigarettes, liquor and drugs across the border into New York.

In Derby Line, Vt., the Haskell Free Library and Opera House straddles the border. The front door is in the United States. The checkout desk is in Canada. That could come to an end. Earlier this year, two vans carrying 21 Undocumented immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere were stopped in Derby Line.

Residents of North Dakota and Minnesota fear their cold winters may have frozen the motion detectors along their border with Canada.

Along Montana’s Sweetgrass Hills and Milk River, the border, in some places, is separated by nothing more than a broken fence. In one incident, a rancher in Montana’s desolate prairie stopped two Jamaicans dressed in T-shirts and shorts.

“It would be difficult to secure the (northern) border with the assets we have there now,” said Greg Kutz, a Government Accountability Office investigator and author of a recent study that found terrorists carrying nuclear material could easily enter the United States from Canada.

SECURITY FALLS SHORT

While Colburn and others say there is no hard evidence showing illegal activity has increased on the northern border, Sheriff Elfo said there is mounting anecdotal evidence. He points to the discovery in August of two backpacks hidden in a ditch near the Black Mountain Boy Scout Camp north of Silver Lake, between Maple Falls and the Canadian border. The backpacks contained about 68 pounds of cocaine, with a street value of about $1.2 million.
Colburn is well aware of the problems.

“We are nowhere near where we think we should be,” he said in an interview about security along the northern border. “But we are getting there faster than ever before.”

Customs and Border Protection now has air wings in Bellingham, Great Falls, Mont., Grand Forks, N.D, and Plattsburg, N.Y. The air wings include Blackhawk helicopters, surveillance aircraft and Predator unmanned aerial vehicles. In addition to “boots on the ground,” Colburn said agents use all-terrain vehicles, Zodiac inflatable boats and snowmobiles. Motion detectors, radar and infrared technology also are deployed.
“Just because you don’t see us doesn’t mean we don’t see you,” Colburn said.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers from northern border states remain frustrated. Given the outrage over undocumented workers flooding in from Mexico, they remain skeptical the Border Patrol will ever pay enough attention to the northern border.

“They aren’t leaning forward on this,” said Rep. Norm Dicks, DWash., a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Congress wants to add as many as 600 additional agents to northern border patrols. But some say even that isn’t enough.

“There will still be a huge inequity,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. “We do have problems with illegal immigrants on the southern border, but we have problems with terrorists on the northern border.”

CANADA’S TERRORISM RISK

Given Canada’s open immigration policies, terrorist organizations have established cells there seeking “safe havens, operational bases and attempting to gain access to the USA,” according to a 1998 report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The report said more than 50 terrorist groups may be present, including Hezbollah, Hamas and radical Islamic groups from Iran and Algeria.

A 2006 report from the Nixon Center, a Washington, D.C., think tank, quoted a senior FBI official as saying Canada is the most worrisome terrorist point of entry and al- Qaida training manuals advise terrorists to enter the United States from Canada.

The report concluded that “despite widespread alarms raised over terrorist infiltration from Mexico, we found no terrorist presence in Mexico and a number of Canadian-based terrorists who have entered the United States.”

Among them were Ahmed Ressam — the so-called Millennium Bomber who was stopped in 1999 by an alert agent at a border crossing in Port Angeles, before he could carry out a plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport — and Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer, a Palestinian terrorist who was mistakenly released after being stopped near Bellingham in 1997. He then moved to Brooklyn where he was later convicted of plotting to bomb a New York City subway station.

“They have to be concerned about the Canadian border,” said Robert Leiken, one of the authors of the Nixon Center study. “If they aren’t, we are in a lot of trouble.”

Law enforcement officials say the presence of suspected terrorists in Canada is a worry, and they share intelligence on the threat daily.

“The fact that we have identified people connected with terrorism who have crossed the border shows we are paying attention,” said Mike Cabana, a chief superintendent with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who oversees border security.

Canadians are aware that the crackdown on the U.S.-Mexico border could affect them.

“If the U.S.-Mexico border is sealed, it is safe to assume criminality will be displaced and it is logical to assume it could affect the northern border,” said Cabana. “Of course we are concerned, but it is too early to tell whether it will make a difference.”

WHATCOM COUNTY VIEW

Back in Blaine, down the street from the Smuggler’s Inn, Shirley- Ann Leu says she and her husband, Herbert, have learned to live with Border Patrol agents sitting on their back retaining wall, the RCMP flashing lights in their yard at 3 a.m. and the helicopter patrols.
“The big cameras are going round and round all the time,” she said. “They know every car in the neighborhood. You get used to it.”

Despite the heightened security, Sheriff Elfo said he remains anxious about the terrorists, drug smugglers and illegal immigrants who view the Canadian border as an easy route into the United States.
“The help from the feds has improved dramatically,” he said. “But we know individuals and contraband continue to cross regularly.”

Racial Profiling in the Era of Terrorism. Did you know that post Sept 11, were racial profiling Middle Easterns descents? Know with Patriot act (Immigration) Latinos has being targeted for Racial profiling. What crime did Latinos or Mexicans commited to be single out and being racial profiling?


It should be remembered that practically all Immigrants have come to this country because they like our land and our institutions better than those from whence they came. They have attached themselves to the life of this country in a manner that they would hate to change and the vast majority of them will, if given a chance, remain the same good neighbors that they have been in the past regardless of what difficulties our nation may have with the country of their birth. History proves this to be true . . . .We must see to it that no race prejudices develop and that there are no petty persecutions of law-abiding people.

It is against this historical backdrop that we encounter post-9/11 efforts to combat terrorist acts on American soil, and examine the role that race should play in an effective effort to deter future attacks. But before assessing whether our government's response to the events of 9/11 betray a pattern of racial profiling.

So, racial profiling as the term has been employed in recent public debate, refers to government activity directed at a suspect or group of suspects because of their race, whether intentional or because of the disproportionate numbers of contacts based upon other pre-textual reasons. Under Fourth Amendment analysis, objective factors measure whether law enforcement action is constitutional, and under the Fourteenth Amendment challenges to the practice are assessed under the customary strict scrutiny test for racial classifications. It is against this historical and legal backdrop that we should take a look at our law enforcement and internal domestic security response to the horrific acts of September 11th.

In the weeks following September 11, federal, state and local law enforcement officials worked feverishly to investigate those responsible for the most reprehensible crime on American Soil and to assess our state of vulnerability to further acts of terrorism. As part of those efforts conclusions about the ethnicity and national origin of the prime suspects was inescapable. This crime was committed by a group of foreign nationals of middle eastern descent.

Immediately law enforcement officials focused special investigative efforts upon foreign nationals from middle eastern countries, often in disregard of any other factors warranting suspicion. In December, federal investigators began voluntary interviews with more than 5,000 young middle eastern men who entered the United States within the last two years from countries that were linked to terrorism. Federal officials have contacted administrators at more than two hundred colleges and universities to gain information about students from middle eastern countries. What are their majors? Where do they live? How often do they miss class? They have followed up these efforts with unannounced visits and interviews with the students. Some local police chiefs who have worked hard to rebut concerns over racial profiling have resisted cooperation with these federal efforts on the ground that the interviews appear to violate departmental policy or state and local laws.

The U.S. Congress, in the days following September 11th, passed The USA Patriot Act, an omnibus bill containing numerous reforms to federal criminal procedure, laws relating to foreign intelligence surveillance, wiretaps and interception of electronic communications, laws relating to the gathering of documentary evidence, and DNA and immigration laws. In a very general sense, the Act makes it easier for federal investigative agencies to obtain wiretaps on multiple electronic devices, and procure electronic and documentary evidence from sources like internet service providers and cable and telephone companies. It also relaxes prohibitions on the sharing of information obtained in investigations by different federal agencies. While the latitude afforded law enforcement activities under the act and relaxed standards for information sharing may give rise to concern for the protection of civil liberties, the provisions most relevant to our discussion today are in the area of immigration and naturalization.
I am more willing to entertain restrictions that affect all of us like identity cards and more intrusive X-ray procedures at airports - and am somewhat more skeptical of restrictions that affect only some of us, like those that focus on immigrants or single out people by nationality.

How in the World we want to enforced our Southern Border and not thru our Northern Border?. Why we are so obsessed with Mexicans? Since Sept 11, 2001 our world changes our lives but for Mexicans the world turn against them even without committed or participated in any terrorist crime. 12,000 federal agents patrol the U.S.-Mexican border, along with National Guard troops. Of the 6,000 agents expected to be added to the Border Patrol in the next year, most will be assigned to the southern border. Along the northern border, which is twice as long, there are fewer than 1,000 agents.

U.S. fears more illegal crossings along northern border.

BLAINE, Wash. | Tucked in the countryside where paved roads give way to gravel is the Smuggler’s Inn, a bed-and-breakfast on the U.S.-Canadian border.

Rooms come equipped with night-vision binoculars so guests can track the almost nightly cat-and-mouse game between Border Patrol agents and people trying to sneak into the United States. In the last three years, 105 people have been arrested in the inn’s yard. Just mowing the lawn can trip hidden sensors, prompting a flyover by Border Patrol helicopters, said Bob Boule, the inn’s operator.

Life along the border can be unpredictable. At most points, the only thing separating 0 (Zero) Avenue in Canada from the houses, fields, woods and narrow roads of the United States is a shallow, 3-foot ditch or a metal highway guardrail. Security cameras on tall poles swivel to track suspicious vehicles. Border Patrol cars barrel around corners to confront uncertain threats.

“We are probably one of the safest places in the world,” Boule said. “I can get lights and sirens in my yard in three minutes.”

But if the area immediately surrounding the inn and the border crossing at Blaine is one of the more secure along the U.S.-Canadian border, the other 4,000 or so miles are a security nightmare.

Given Canada’s open immigration policies, terrorist organizations have established cells there seeking “safe havens, operational bases and attempting to gain access to the USA,” according to a 1998 report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The report said that more than 50 terrorist groups might be present, including Hezbollah, Hamas and other radical Islamic groups from Iran and Algeria.

A 2006 report from the Nixon Center, a Washington, D.C., policy institute, quoted a senior FBI official as saying that Canada is the most worrisome terrorist point of entry and that al-Qaida training manuals advise terrorists to enter the U.S. from Canada.
The report concluded that “despite widespread alarms raised over terrorist infiltration from Mexico, we found no terrorist presence in Mexico and a number of Canadian-based terrorists who have entered the United States.”

And as security is ratcheted up along the nation’s southern border with Mexico, law enforcement officials up north fear that the bad guys — terrorists, drug smugglers and illegal aliens — may increasingly be headed their way.

“It’s a safe assumption,” said Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo, whose jurisdiction includes more than 100 miles of rugged and remote border stretching east from Blaine.

Even senior Border Patrol officials concede that the heightened security on the Mexican border could spur new pressures up north.

“It’s logical they will look elsewhere,” said Ron Colburn, the deputy chief of Customs and Border Protection, of those trying to clandestinely enter the United States.

Nearly 12,000 federal agents patrol the U.S.-Mexican border, along with National Guard troops. Of the 6,000 agents expected to be added to the Border Patrol in the next year, most will be assigned to the southern border.

Along the northern border, which is twice as long, there are fewer than 1,000 agents.

In Washington state’s Pasayten Wilderness Area, agents patrol the rough backcountry on horseback. The 12 horses, mustangs, roamed wild on federal lands before they were rounded up and broken.

In Derby Line, Vt., the Haskell Free Library and Opera House straddles the border. The front door is in the United States. The checkout desk is in Canada. That could come to an end. Earlier this year, two vans carrying 21 illegal immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere were stopped in Derby Line.

Residents of North Dakota and Minnesota fear that their frigid winters may have frozen the motion detectors along their border with Canada. The border in some places is separated by nothing more than a broken fence. In one incident, a rancher on Montana’s desolate prairie stopped two Jamaicans dressed in T-shirts and shorts.

“It would be difficult to secure the (northern) border with the assets we have there now,” said Greg Kutz, a Government Accountability Office investigator and the author of a recent study that found terrorists carrying nuclear material could easily enter the United States from Canada.

Colburn is well aware of the problems.

“We are nowhere near where we think we should be,” he said, referring to the security along the northern border. “But we are getting there faster than ever before.”

Customs and Border Protection now has air wings in Bellingham, Wash.; Great Falls, Mont.; Grand Forks, N.D.; and Plattsburgh, N.Y. The air wings include Blackhawk helicopters, surveillance aircraft and Predator unmanned aerial vehicles. Agents use all-terrain vehicles, inflatable boats and snowmobiles. Motion detectors, radar and infrared technology also are deployed but often have trouble distinguishing people from animals and don’t always function well in bad weather.