Mexico has arrested a British man of Arab extraction sought by US authorities in connection with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, the Attorney General's office (PGR) said.
Amer Haykel was arrested in Todo Santos, a town in the northeastern Mexican state of Baja California, officials said.
"The PGR arrested ... Haykel, whom US authorities have linked to extremist groups presumably involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York," the office said in a statement.
Officials said Haykel was arrested at the Todo Santos fire department, following "investigative and intelligence work and exchange of information with the US government."
The statement did not explain why Haykel was at the fire station and also failed to include the suspect's age or where his passport was issued, which would confirm his nationality.
"The suspect, who was born in Beirut and speaks fluent Arabic, English, French and Spanish, was turned over to immigration authorities and taken to Mexico City to determine his legal status," the PGR statement said.
On June 15, Pakistani national Arif Ali Durrani, 55, was also arrested in Baja California in response to a US warrant on charges he was smuggling anti-aircraft missiles. Durrani was officially repatriated to Pakistan via Los Angeles.
(emph. mine)
As I have reported before, these aren't your typical human cargo, heroin, cocaine and marijuana smuggling banditos and gang bangers anymore. There is nothing racist about closing our southern border. The very unfortunate result of our open border policy very easily could be tragedy that validates the Minutemen, who are racist. That would be a shame.
There are conflicting reports about which Todos Santos was home to the arrest. The above accounting says it was Todos Santos in northeastern Baja. There is a small village of Todos Santos in Baja Norte, and that truly is too close to home, very near one of the easiest border crossings in California. However, other reports have the arrest being made in Baja Sur, where the lovely ocean front town of Todos Santos is being overrun by the anti-Cabo tourist industry. It's quite a trek from there to California. I'll be following this one closely and keeping a watchful eye out for connections to Mara Salvatrucha and the border crime syndicate. The fire station connection is intriguing as well.
-- Zap
what do you mean by closing the border, exactly?
Posted by: Torridjoe | June 22, 2005 at 12:52
I put it in italics because "I" don't know what the best solution is, but for Pete's sake with over 40,000 violent felony convictions from illegal immigrants (consider their victims), the rapidly growing weapons smuggling operation of MS-13, suspected terrorists being nabbed in Cali, Oregon, and Baja, over 50% of the two most savage gangs being comprised of illegals, don't you agree we need to take serious measures? Wasn't the unprotected border problem one of the biggest "proofs" provided during campaign season, from the Left, that W was negligent in protecting us?
If farmers, hotels, construction companies, landscapers, and restaurants are dependent on their illegal workforce (questionable), perhaps we should grandfather work visas (amnesty) for any and all currently employed and seeking employment, and include fillable blank visas for employers who have seasonal needs or are rapidly expanding, then shut the sucker down.
I've been watching this situation deteriorate for years. Now they're being caught smuggling anti-aircraft weaponry, missile rockets? Well, it doesn't take a genius to see those pointed at passenger jets, does it? And to quote my friend Hernan (who wears a badge), "For every bust you read about there's 20 you don't, and for every 20 busts, there are 2000 border-related crimes." And he's not talking about migrant workers seeking jobs. He nor I really give a hoot about that "problem." It's xenophobic racists like the Minutemen who are hurting the cause by attacking impoverished hard working decent people who I welcome about the American bandwagon.
I don't craft policy from my mortgage office, but there are dozens of ideas worth exploring to protect migrant workers and stop crime. Unfortunately (in the view of some misguided bleeding hearts), they almost always insist on enforcing existing immigration laws.
Mexico is practically at war with MS-13 on their southern border, and I applaud that. How can they not appreciate us doing the same?
All I have to produce to go back and forth from Tijuana is a driver's license or ID card. Quite under-reported is that most of the hard core criminals pass back and forth the same way I do. The painfully romanticized picture of illegals migrating against all odds across brutal desert terrain, is only a problem in that so many of them die in the effort. It's SUVs with giant push bars, breaking down flimsy fences, loaded with weapons and drugs, that 4X4 over the border we should be worried about. No? Fiddle while we burn? Thanks for asking. I'll return to this from time to time, and
I will try to find sensible opinions apart from the VDARE Malkin bunch. Just because their stopped clock is right twice a day, doesn't mean it arrived at a correct answer by any respectable means. :)
Posted by: Zap | June 22, 2005 at 13:30
I would assume that:
"There is nothing racist about closing our southern border."
means that we would not tolerate or accept illegal activities to occur across our borders and thus close our border to those actions and people that would do such actions.
Posted by: Ronald Rutherford | June 22, 2005 at 13:43
Zap--my question was honest, not snarky. As you noted, it's my impression that the porosity of the border is directly related to the illegals' ability to procure fraudulent documentation. You can get a DL easy; for more money (and that's really the only barrier), you can get a valid SS #, and from there any ID you want is a snap. So "closing" it realistically almost means literally closing it to all casual non-commercial traffic, IMO.
We are an open society, and we recognize the tradeoffs inherent in that stance. A free society is an often chaotic society, and while we should do whatever is in our power to enforce existing law and policy, we cannot lose sight of the overweening principle which guides our rules about freedom of movement.
Posted by: Torridjoe | June 22, 2005 at 13:59
Yes, Ron, something like that. Some topics get dicey (and incredibly muddled and frustrating) because those opposed have the audacity to accuse others of racism using guilt by association. By being for strong immigration reform, I am associated with white nationalists, therefore I am racist. Grrr.
I'm cranky about this because I had a heated debate with a "pro-illegal immigration" kook in a forum where this story is being discussed. I was called racist, because: "You think thwarting possible terrorists with anti-aircraft weapons is more important than the migrant workforce." And I do, and that quote is from one of the bleeding hearts. Astonishing, really.
I believe the law is worth enforcing now more than ever, and by whatever means necessary to get the job done and close down this trafficking of an expanding variety of ever more dangerous contraband and human cargo, real terrorists. I protest fear mongering, but as Richard Clarke recently said, "The monsters are still out there."
Posted by: Zap | June 22, 2005 at 14:05
Torrid, how about national ID cards?
Posted by: Zap | June 22, 2005 at 14:09
And I'm gone for the day. Post something would ya!? :)
Posted by: Zap | June 22, 2005 at 14:09
what would make national ID cards harder to fraudulently obtain than SS cards and birth certificates?
Posted by: Torridjoe | June 22, 2005 at 14:40
I am not sure if your question is real but let me say...
SS cards are a paper slip that is the easiest to forge of any document in the world. And birth certificates are just paper, with no way to tie-in the person with a piece of paper he/she is holding. I could easily hold your birth certificate in my hand and claim to be Torridjoe (assuming I am within 5 years of your age). National IDs could contain pictures, descriptions of looks, thumbprint digitized, magnetic strips to reconfirm the data and any other idea I don't know about. Our money is harder to forge than these documents. I would be more worried about my privacy stolen by thieves than loosing 20 dollars by getting a fake bill.
Posted by: Ronald Rutherford | June 22, 2005 at 16:11
Zap, can you divulge which web site you were visiting?
At first I did not mention about how I had a problem with calling Minutemen racist but since you were also called racist for your beliefs that have nothing to do with race I will bring this matter up.
As far as I have seen and watched the group does not espouse racist ideas. No? While I can't say that I have allways been fair to certain groups, I hope we can clarify that some in the Minutemen group are racist but I would assume a large percentage are like me and you.
It would be similar to me saying Democrats are racist. Some Democrats are racist but that does not make the whole.
Posted by: Ronald Rutherford | June 22, 2005 at 16:58
Ron is right about technology being one answer. That takes money, and that means funding. It is in the hands of the Prez and the Congress to fund the ICE/INS and give them the tools to catch bad guys.
Ron is sort of right in catching my error accusing the Minutemen of being universally racist. But, I think he has the percentages wrong. Neiwert has done an excellent job exposing Minuteman leadership reaching out to white supremacists in one breath and denouncing them with the other. The movement has exploited homeland security concerns to focus on their broader prejudices. Of course, they've been very careful to watch what they say and how they frame their agenda, but a little time at Stormfront will clear things up pretty fast. This is right off the Minuteman Project's site:
-----------
INFORMANTS ARE WANTED WHO HAVE LEGALLY OBTAINED PRECISE INFORMATION LEADING TO THE INDICTMENT, ARREST AND CONVICTION OF ANY PERSON OR BUSINESS ENGAGED IN THE ILLEGAL ALIEN SLAVE LABOR TRADE, INCLUDING THE SMUGGLING, HARBORING, OR HIRING OF ILLEGAL ALIENS, OR THE EVASION OF EMPLOYMENT TAXES OR REQUIRED WORKER'S COMP INSURANCE ON SUCH EMPLOYEES.
------------
That's a fairly clear attack on the migrant workforce and their employers. I cannot support this. I cannot help but read between the lines and see an attack on a culture. That is racist to me.
I go to TJ every chance I get. It's hardly accurate to call the ones who come north, escape that startling and unbelievably heartbreaking poverty miles from my relatively opulant home, slaves. They wouldn't be here if they were slaves. They are also filled with the fear that Mexicans are taking over! I embrace my city's Hispanic cultural history. I rather enjoy the music, the food, the architecture, the lifestyle (which is conservative, freedom loving, self censuring, spiritual, and family oriented). I'll be damned if I'm going to support an agenda that declares war on our multi-cultural society.
So, sure there are concerned non-racist folks along for the ride with the Minutemen, but the project itself has some serious worts. I want to get the bad guys. They want to get the Mexicans. Big difference.
Posted by: Zap | June 22, 2005 at 21:32
Oh yeah. Ron, I use several subscriber sites and even post on a private forum with TJ where membership is hard to come by. My debate this morning was at Cafe Utne, a subscription site in a news forum. Utne is linked to the right under alsoread. It's an interesting community of anarchists, greens, progressives, anti-war libertarians, and ME! I do love multi-culturalism. :)
Posted by: Zap | June 22, 2005 at 21:42
TJ is a reference to Tijuana two posts up, not the blogger.
Posted by: Zap | June 22, 2005 at 21:45
Ronald, my point was not about counterfeitting. It's not the card that's being stolen, it's the number. A national ID card will simply get sold for more money.
Posted by: Torrid | June 22, 2005 at 22:10
Imnplanted chips? The mark of the beast? :)
Posted by: Zap | June 22, 2005 at 23:14
The mark of the beast, that's it! Kill two birds with one stone! The chosen ones won't get to travel between countries, but when the rapture hits they'll get total freedom of travel (if you know what I mean)...
Posted by: Torridjoe | June 23, 2005 at 09:00
An upate on Durrani, the guy smuggling anti-aircraft missiles. He apparently has a history involved with the arms business. He was caught selling missile systems (he built at a SoCal plant) to Iran in the late 80s and claimed he was part of Iran Contra. He wasn't. The current charges again seem more related to the international black market for arms than than they are smuggling heavy duty weapons into the US. More to come
Posted by: Zap | June 23, 2005 at 09:31
Torrid, and with a number it is meaningless unless used to fake a document. If a national ID card is stolen, I don't see it being useful unless that person has similar looks and characteristics. Even then the digital inprint of thumbprint is very hard to get around. If I had your National ID (and I don't look like you) in one hand and your birth certificate and SSN in the other what would be more useful. The pictures are inprinted into the card digitally and are not like the CA old ID's that you can just paste and cut your picture onto it.
666
ooops I mean,
Ron
Posted by: Ronald Rutherford | June 23, 2005 at 11:53