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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Authorities have seen no signs of al Qaeda trying to insert operatives into the United States from Mexico, but the militant group has considered doing so, a U.S. intelligence official said on Friday. The comments by Charles Allen, Homeland Security undersecretary for intelligence and analysis, could undercut one argument by advocates in and out of government for get-tough tactics to fight illegal crossings at the southern U.S. border -- that they are needed to fight terrorism. In contrast, at least one Islamist militant has been caught trying to enter the United States by land to attempt an...

President Bush's top intelligence aide has confirmed that Iraqi terrorists have been captured coming into the United States from Mexico. The confirmation comes from National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, who talked about the situation in an interview with the El Paso Times recently. "Coming up through the Mexican border is a path," McConnell said. "Now, are they doing it in great numbers? No, because we're finding them and we're identifying them and we've got watch lists and we're keeping them at bay." But, he said, "There are numerous situations where people are alive today because we caught them (terrorists)." Intelligence...

My friend Geraldo Rivera and I had quite the verbal shootout the other day over the needless deaths of Allison Kunhardt, 17, and Tessa Tranchant, 16, in Virginia. Twenty-two-year-old Alfredo Ramos, an illegal alien from Mexico, killed the girls when he slammed into their car while drunk. Ramos had three previous alcohol-related convictions and an identity theft beef as well. Despite all the criminal activity, the feds had no idea Ramos was even in the country because Virginia Beach is a "Sanctuary City" and its police chief, Alfred Jacocks, had ordered his officers not to ask about immigration status when...

Harris co-sponsors fence bill Nelson votes against border security   TAMPA, FL— Congresswoman Katherine Harris, the Republican candidate for United States Senate, became a co-sponsor yesterday for H.R. 6061, The Secure Fence Act, to confront the immediate need for additional infrastructure to help secure our borders from terrorists and other criminal elements. A vote on the bill is anticipated later today. Her opponent, Bill Nelson has stymied recent efforts to bolster border security by voting in favor of Senate Amendment 4188, legislation that includes provisions requiring the United States to consult with Mexico before building a border fence. As noted...

"We've had Hezbollah agents that came across the border with Mexico," Jerome Corsi, co-author of "Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders", told Sean Hannity during an appearance Wednesday night on Fox News Hannity & Colmes. Appearing with co-author and Minuteman co-founder Jim Gilchrist, Corsi agreed with Hannity that border security is important for national security because Hezbollah terrorists could be coming across the border with weapons of mass destruction.

Nuevo Laredo, Mexico— A young, slightly built Latino boy smiles widely for the camera. The chunk of adobe stuck between Jose Gonzalez’s two front teeth show the world he's been practicing again. "You need more speed, mang," shouts his uncle, Eduardo Gonzalez, as he and a band of others fail in suppressing their laughter. "You can do it!" It's still early in the morning, but Jose will not be the only child to taste sun baked mud from the public library's wall today.

President Bush got it just right for once. His immigration speech had all the key moves he needs to keep his base in order and to reach out to the Latino voters who are the political future of the Republican Party.He began with the wall — the border fence. Whether made of concrete or of high-tech instrumentation, he has finally embraced the reality that border agents, no matter how numerous, cannot police a 2,000-mile border. And Americans have no reason to have faith that they can. Only a fence can control the massive flow of immigrants across our borders and...

A plan for 700 miles of Mexican border wall heads for Senate -- its future is not assured. A proposal to build a double set of steel walls with floodlights, surveillance cameras and motion detectors along one-third of the U.S.-Mexican border heads to the Senate next month after winning overwhelming support in the House. The wall would be intended to prevent illegal immigrants and potential terrorists from hiking across the southern border into the United States. It would run along five segments of the 1,952-mile border that now experience the most illegal crossings. The plan already has roiled diplomatic relations...

Two events last month on the Mexican border, one in Texas and one in California, highlight the challenge the U.S. faces on our Southern border. They illustrate how not only vulnerable our border is but also why it is difficult to fix the problem. Mexico won’t or can’t control its side of the border, and the U.S. doesn’t want to embarrass Mexico by admitting that fact publicly. On the afternoon of January 23, three SUVs crossed from Mexico into Texas 50 miles southeast of El Paso at a shallow place in the Rio Grande called Neely’s Crossing by the locals....

An Al Qaida operative who was on the FBI's terrorist watch list was recently captured near the Mexican border, housed in a Texas jail and turned over to federal agents, Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, said on Friday. "A confirmed al Qaida terrorist, an Iraqi national, was held in the Brewster County jail," Rep. Culberson told ABC Radio host Sean Hannity. "He was captured in Mexico. This was within the last six weeks. He was turned over to the FBI." The Texas Republican said he obtained the stunning information about the terrorist's capture "from the sheriffs who were directly involved. "In...

Federal agents believe they've intercepted intelligence from the notorious Mara Salvatruchas gang who seem to be planning to assassinate federal and local police in the coming days. They have forwarded a safety memo to area authorities. In the intelligence bulletin obtained by Action 4 News, a confidential informant in Virginia claims the Mara Salvatruchas have designated October 30 as "Kill A Law Enforcement Officer Day". The memo cites the informant as someone who's provided reliable information in the past. Reliable or not, Valley police aren't taking chances. In Hidalgo, chief Vernon Rosser believes everyone has their guard up. "Along the...

(Ed: Bill Cavaliere was born on August 27, 1957 and grew up in Parsippany, NJ. At age 20 he moved to southwestern New Mexico, where he was initailly employed with the US Forest Service in the Coronado National Forest. He later attended the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy in Santa Fe. He was hired as a deputy with the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office, and during his 18-year tenure he was eventually elected sheriff. He has since worked as an instructor for the National Counterdrug Center, and is currently employed with the Playas New Mexico Police Department. He is married with...

There is a new kind of tree growing out west. Botanists have yet to decide how to classify it. Politicians and the major media seem to want to ignore it. The sight of one is enough to make weathered old cowboys who thought they'd seen everything in life break down and cry. Not many people have seen these trees, for they grow in out of the way places in the southwest desert along the border with Mexico. But those who have seen them are haunted by the memory. In an era of free trade agreements and politically correct euphemisms for...

U. S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a vocal critic of President Bush's immigration policy, announced he would run for President in 2008 - if he could not find a more viable candidate to adopt his views on illegal immigration.

Violent, terror-connected gang threatens to confront civilian immigration patrols. It looks like there is going to be a second "showdown at the OK Corral" in Tombstone, Ariz., April 1. A leader of the violent, terror-connected Latin American gang Mara Salvatruchas, Ebner Anivel Rivera-Paz, has reportedly issued orders from federal prison to members of his international criminal organization to teach a lesson to a group of Americans taking border control into their own hands. The American civilians, known as the "Minutemen," say they have some 750 volunteers ready to show up in Tombstone to start policing the border and dealing with...

Former Mexican soldiers, police and federal agents, originally trained as an elite force of anti-drug commandos, are working as mercenaries for Mexican narcotics traffickers, bringing a new wave of drug-related killings into the United States, authorities said. Law-enforcement and intelligence officials said the well-armed gang, known as the "Zetas," is linked to hundreds of killings and dozens of kidnappings on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, particularly over a wide area of southeastern Texas from Laredo to Brownsville and in cities throughout Mexico.

U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said yesterday's developments suggest that if any of the other people being sought are in the country, then they might be here for economic reasons, as well, and have no links to terrorism.

The year 2004 was a good one for terrorists, violent gang members, law-breakers and fraud artists seeking safe haven in America. Let's reminisce: The rise of MS-13. The savage El Salvador-based gang, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), has now penetrated more than a dozen states. In May, a Fairfax, Va., teenager had his fingers chopped off in an MS-13 machete attack. In November, Washington, D.C.-area police received warning that MS-13 is plotting to ambush and kill them when they respond to service calls. Active in alien, drug and weapons smuggling, MS-13 members in America have been tied to numerous killings, robberies, carjackings,...

Naco Border Patrol agents were pinned down by automatic weapon fire from cowardly assailants in Mexico on Tuesday, February 18th. The agents, who were pinned down for 5 to 7 minutes, were not injured and were unable to return fire. The shooting took place in broad daylight and the shooters knew exactly who they were shooting at. After the assailants left the area, they fired on other Border Patrol agents nearby. Hundreds of shell casings were reportedly scattered about area after the shootings. More to follow.

<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) - California communities will be reimbursed for the hundreds of millions of dollars they have spent on security since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge pledged during an appearance before the state's fire and police chiefs.</p>