Napolitano: Terrorists Cross U.S.-Mexico Border ?From Time to Time?

(CNSNews.com) -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told lawmakers last week that ?from time to time? terrorists enter the United States from Mexico with the intent to inflict harm on Americans.

She made that revelation during a July 25 House Homeland Security Committee hearing entitled, ?Understanding the Homeland Threat Landscape.?

At the hearing, freshman Rep. Ron Barber (D-Ariz.), who replaced Gabrielle Giffords, asked Napolitano, ?As you know, Madam Secretary, there have been anecdotal reports about material evidence of the presence of terrorists along our southern border. My question is, is there any credible evidence that these reports are accurate and that terrorists are, in fact, crossing our southern border with the intent to do harm to the American people??

Napolitano said, ?With respect, there have been -- and the Ababziar (sp?) matter would be one I would refer to that's currently being adjudicated in the criminal courts -- from time to time, and we are constantly working against different and evolving?threats?involving various terrorist groups and various ways they may seek to enter the country.?

?What I can tell you, however, is that the -- that southern border, the U.S.-Mexico border -- is heavily, heavily staffed at record amounts of manpower, materiel, infrastructure and the like, and we are constantly making sure we're doing all we can to make that border as safe as possible,? she said.

Each year, the U.S. Border Patrol, a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), apprehends thousands of illegal aliens along the southwest border who are classified as ?other than Mexican? (OTM).

Among the OTMs are illegal aliens from countries such as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen that have officially been linked to terrorism by the U.S. government.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. (AP Photo)

CNSNews.com reported that in fiscal year 2011 (Oct. 1, 2010 thru Sept. 30, 2011), Border Patrol apprehended 255 illegal aliens from terrorism-linked countried along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Government officials in the United States have provided few details about the number of actual terrorists who are caught trying to cross the southwest border.

However, there have been criminal court cases of terrorists crossing into the United States from Mexico.

In March 2010, a federal court in San Antonio, Texas indicted Ahmed Muhammed Dhakane, for lying on his asylum application about his link to two organizations ? al-Barakat and Al-Ittihad Islami -- designated by the U.S. government as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).

According to the indictment, Dhakane also failed to reveal to U.S. authorities that he ran a large-scale human smuggling operation out of Brazil from 2006 to 2008. He was accused of successfully smuggling hundreds of aliens into America, including some Somalis affiliated with terrorist groups. Dhakane was sentenced to 10 years in prison in April 2011.

Furthermore, an August 2009 audit by the Government Accountability Office focused on Customs and Border Protection (CBP) checkpoints and found that in fiscal 2008, CBP, a component of DHS, reported ?there were three individuals encountered by the Border Patrol at southwest border checkpoints who were identified as persons linked to terrorism.?

In April 2010, CNSNews.com reported? that FBI Director Robert Mueller told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, ?In Detroit, Mahmoud Youssef Kourani was indicted in the Eastern District of Michigan on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to Hezbollah. ? Kourani was already in custody for entering the country illegally through Mexico and was involved in fundraising activities on behalf of Hezbollah.?

Kourani pleaded guilty and was sentenced in June 2005 after prosecutors found that he was a fighter, recruiter, and fundraiser for Hezbollah, which has been officially designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. government.

In an interview with the El Paso Times published in August 2007, Mike McConnell, then-director of national intelligence, echoing what Napolitano told lawmakers last week, said there are ?some? terrorists coming across the southwest border, but apparently ?not in great numbers,? CNSNews.com?s April 2010 report added.

Source: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/napolitano-terrorists-cross-us-mexico-border-time-time

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