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Feinstein Fears Border is 'Gateway' to Terrorism
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., expressed concern Thursday that the southern border has become a "major gateway” for Middle Eastern terrorists in a hearing with National Intelligence Director John Negroponte and other top intelligence officials. Feinstein noted that law enforcement officials captured 155,000 non-Mexican illegal aliens in 2005, more than three times as many as the 49,545 that were apprehended in 2003. Negroponte told Feinstein that the intelligence community was "sensitive to” the issue she raised, but said that the Canadian border posed "a bit greater concern.” Canadian intelligence officials have estimated that nearly 50 known terrorist organizations have cells in Canada. In December 1999, an alert customs officer arrested Ahmed Ressam as he was entering the United States at Port Angeles, Washington with plans to attack Los Angeles International Airport. He was convicted of conspiracy to commit terrorism in April 2001 and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Story Continues Below Charles Allen, chief intelligence officer at the Department of Homeland Security, defended the effort at the southern border, claiming it was getting tougher to enter the United States illegally. One reason, he said, was the end of the "catch and release” policy and its replacement with a new "catch and return or deport” program. Previously, captured other-than-Mexican illegals (OTMs) were only briefly detained by law enforcement officers before being released into the United States pending a hearing. Eighty-five percent of OTMs failed to show up for the hearings. The "catch and return or deport” program has expedited the processing of OTMs. They are no longer released and are now returned to their home countries in an average of 32 days.
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: Inside Cover Stories
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