Illegals from terrorist nations are crossing the border into
Arizona.
August 16, 2004 -
Investigators: Terrorist Alley
Tom McNamara and the Eyewitness News 4 Investigators have spent the
last three months talking to experts and eyewitnesses.
The stories are compelling and the evidence is frightening, and just
this week, Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo released a report
showing that the problem is worse than anyone thought.
Here's what the Eyewitness News 4 Investigators uncovered.
"It's a Muslim prayer blanket. It was found about a mile and a half
west from the Douglas port of entry in 2001."
Larry Vance is a rancher who lives near the U.S.-Mexico border in
Douglas, Arizona.
For years, he says he's watched - and documented - thousands of
illegals crossing the border and running away to eventual arrest...
or freedom and anonymity somewhere in this country.
And in just one hour, during this stake-out along the border between
Douglas and b\Bisbee, The Investigators count 198 illegals in five
different groups crossing into the U.S. with no resistance.
Watch as they huddle in the bushes, then climb thru a few strands of
barbed wire and run for freedom.
We called Border Patrol and waited another full hour, but no one
ever came.
Later, we checked Border Patrol logs which note agents being
dispatched following our call, but also note those agents found no
signs of activity in the area.
In recent years, Vance says, the evidence some illegals leave behind
is alarming.
Vance says, "Other log books, diary-type things, other bits and
pieces of paper with Arabic written on them found in the area over
the last few years
We've all heard of the U.S. government's Terror Watch List:
countries flagged because Americans are endangered by their
citizens, yet regularly, illegals from those countries are crossing
the Arizona border, blending in with groups of Mexican and South
American illegal immigrants.
If apprehended, they are brought to this federal detention center in
Florence, Arizona.
The investigators found that on this day, several individuals of
this kind were being detained here, including some from Sudan, Iran,
and even Iraq.
These are just the ones who were caught.
These detainees are called 'other than Mexicans' or OTM's. Most will
eventually be sent back to their home country.
But some disappear very quickly, usually before they even reach this
center or other holding facilities. They're taken away by
tight-lipped federal agents to who-knows-where.
Who are they? They're called 'Special Interest Aliens" or "SIA."
According to Ben Anderson, a retired U.S. Army Colonel, The SIA that
they don't want to talk about. That's special interest alien. These
are people from those countries that we consider terrorist threats."
Anderson is a retired U.S. Army Colonel who tracks illegal
immigration from his home in Sierra Vista, Arizona. He has a website
sharing his research into Special Interest Aliens.
"You will not read about that. You will not hear about that. They
will not talk about that. They will not provide that info to the
press
Colonel Anderson says these Special Interest Aliens originate in the
Middle East or Northeast Asia. They travel through Spain to what's
called the tri-border area of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, then,
to Mexico City.
They pay to learn Spanish language skills, and by the time they
reach the U.S., they're acting and talking like Mexicans to fool
border agents.
And, Anderson says, they're entering the United States right through
our backyard. "This is the main alley. It's called "Cocaine Alley"
or "Terrorist Alley." Whatever you want to call it, Arizona is the
prime place."
Cochise County is the center. It's the point of gravitus, center of
gravity for all illegals," says Anderson.
Anderson says some Special Interest Aliens are well-funded. paying
tens of thousands of dollars to be smuggled into this country. They
manage to get passports from non-terrorist nations.
And here's the shocking part: if they are caught, they are often
released on their own recognizance, never to be seen again.
According to Retired Border Patrol Agent David Stoddard, "There are
Middle Easterners coming across the border as we speak."
Stoddard agrees with Anderson. Stoddard spent 17 years as a Border
Patrol agent and supervisor in the Tucson Sector before retiring.
"What's scary is that I can show you places out here on the line
right now where 18-wheelers can be driven across."
"These 18-wheelers can be loaded with anything -- illegal aliens,
atomic weapons, whatever."
Stoddard says Americans would be shocked if they knew just how many
people from all over the world are getting into this country across
the Arizona border. And he says we're even less safe from terrorism
today than we were before 9/11.
Take for example, the capture of terrorist suspect Jose Padilla.
The Justice Department says Padilla and an accomplice planned to
enter the U.S. thru Mexico to blow up apartment buildings in major
cities, like New York.
Or the case of suspected al-Qaeda sleeper agent Mohammed Junaid
Babar.
Babar has told investigators of a scheme to smuggle terrorists
across the Mexican border. He's tied to a terror plot to carry out
bombings and assassinations in London.
And the Tombstone Tumbleweed newspaper reports that in June, 53
Middle Eastern men were apprehended by Border Patrol agents near
Willcox.
It's believed they were from Iran or Syria.
Stoddard says, "It's the ones who are sneaking into our country
under cover of darkness between our ports of entry that concern me
and should concern every American.
Border Patrol Council President T.J. Bonner says, "You don't know
what is getting by you unless you come across, as you said, small
pieces of evidence, remnants of things that give you clues, that not
everybody is coming across from mexico looking for a job."
Bonner knows exactly who and what current agents are uncovering
along our border and he has a dire warning:
"It's only a matter of time before another terrorist attack occurs,
unfortunately.
Some in Congress are starting to take notice of the threat. Colorado
Congressman Tom Tancredo released a report that revealed a 50%
increase in OTMs, illegals Other Than Mexicans, crossing the border.
Tancredo says some illegals from terrorist nations are paying as
much as $50,000 to be smuggled in. He says they're not paying that
kind of money simply to work at a 7/11.
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Rebroadcast August 16, 2004 at 6:00PM MST -
First aired August 13, 2004 at 11:00PM MST
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