Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com
Thursday, Jan. 24, 2002

The figure is much greater than previously thought and, analysts say, shows America's vulnerability to terrorist infiltrators, according to today's Washington Times.

Three of the Sept. 11 terrorist hijackers were illegally in the U.S. from the Middle East.

"While the vast majority of illegals from the Middle East are not terrorists, the fact that tens of thousands of people from that region, and millions more from the rest of the world, can settle in the United States illegally means that terrorists who wish to do so face few obstacles,” Steven A. Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, told the Times.

The new Census Bureau report, which for the first time spells out the native countries of nearly 9 million illegal aliens who resided here in 2000, indicated that the number of illegal residents more than doubled during the 1990s.

Almost 3.9 million of the swelled numbers are from Mexico. China is the source of 200,306 illegal aliens, said the report.

Since Sept. 11 the Justice Department has sought to deport thousands of illegal aliens from countries where the al-Qaeda terrorist network is known to operate. However, most of these targeted men are still in the U.S. Some, according to the Census report, are of "quasi-legal” status because they seek political asylum.

Despite the leaking borders, Ridge’s consolidation plans are seen as unpopular with independent agencies unwilling to give up power.

Although the homeland security chief’s controversial border security consolidation visions were not expected to be featured in President Bush’s Jan. 29 State of the Union address, the new census data may be an impetus to at least an honorable mention by his boss.

Ivan Eland, director of defense policy studies for the Cato Institute, said the findings represent a wake-up call to law enforcement. "I am pro-immigration. But these numbers do show that weeding out terrorists is more complicated than we may have thought,” he told the Times.

"We need to do a better job tracking visitors to see they don’t overstay visas. If we did improve enforcement, we probably could expand legal immigration.”

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., said: "By not enforcing time limits on visas, decreasing H1-B [temporary employment or training] visas, as well as allowing illegals to obtain driver's licenses with little difficulty - and, more importantly, by not deporting the 300,000 people who have been ordered deported - it is no surprise that millions of illegal immigrants will settle in the United States, including tens of thousands from the states that sponsor terrorism.”

The issue of post-9/11 immigration policy has more than Ridge’s potentially-targeted agencies in an uproar.

According to an Associated Press report, Cecilia Munoz, vice president for policy at National Council of La Raza, fears that advocates of restrictive immigration policy are using a national paranoia to advance their agenda.

"It is unreasonable to use this as an opportunity to stir up fear and division,” said Munoz, who like the pro-immigrant National Immigration Forum favors more benign security measures such as stricter rules for the way student and tourist visas are distributed.

As usual, the devil of how to react to revelations such as the latest Census report is in the details, a fact not lost on Ridge, who since early October has been grappling with such issues and arguments with the help of his staff of 80.

He has conceded that the present design for everything from intelligence gathering to weeding out dangerous aliens is "not necessarily the best fit for the 21st century.”

The bureau found that 5,312,990 illegal aliens were from North and Central America, including 336,717 Salvadorans and 238,977 Guatemalans.

The second-highest number of illegal aliens came from Asia, for the most part South and East Asia, which accounted for 1,248,601 of the continent’s 1,363,419 illegals.

Israel is the home of origin of 24,372 illegal aliens, the report said.

One good thing about the slumping economy: According to the AP, some of the 8.7 million illegal aliens in the U.S. have lost their jobs and gone home.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Al-Qaeda

Bush Administration

China/Taiwan

Homeland/Civil Defense

Immigration/Borders

Latin America

Middle East

War on Terrorism

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