Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Iraqis Being Smuggled Across the Rio Grande

From The Blotter:

The FBI is investigating an alleged human smuggling operation based in Chaparral, N.M., that agents say is bringing "Iraqis and other Middle Eastern" individuals across the Rio Grande from Mexico.

An FBI intelligence report distributed by the Washington, D.C. Joint Terrorism Task Force, obtained by the Blotter on ABCNews.com, says the illegal ring has been bringing Iraqis across the border illegally for more than a year.

Border Patrol officials in the area said they were unaware of the specifics of the FBI's report, and federal prosecutors in New Mexico told ABCNews.com they had no current cases involving the illegal smuggling of Iraqis.

The FBI report, issued last week, says the smuggling organization "used to smuggle Mexicans, but decided to smuggle Iraqi or other Middle Eastern individuals because it was more lucrative." Each individual would be charged a fee of $20,000 to $25,000, according to the report. more

Hey, wasn't that one of the reason's the 9/11 commission said border security was important? Yep.

Has either party done much about it? Nope.

Why? Because one party doesn't want to upset its donors and the other doesn't want to upset its voters.

It's enough to make one wonder when sane solutions to national security issues will be more important than a party's perpetuation of political power.