Britons could lose right to enter US without a visa

thisislondon ^ | 5-3-2007 | staff writer

[bedolido]

Britons could lose the privilege of visiting the U.S. without a visa because of fears over the terrorist threat from within the British Pakistani community.

U.S. security officials are deeply concerned at the ease with which young Britons who have trained in Pakistani terror camps can enter America under the visa-waiver programme.

Their concerns were heightened this week when five men, most of whom were Britons of Pakistani descent, were jailed for life for terrorism offences.

Omar Khyam, jailed for his part in the fertiliser bomb plot, could easily have entered America after training in Pakistan

[highball]

This would be a huge shock, given the large number of Brits who cross the Atlantic (and with the pound at two-to-one, that number is only going to get bigger).

Don’t know what the UK can do, though. Are they are afraid to profile as we are?

[Chuck54]

That’s OK. They can come in via Mexico. No visa required.

[Paleo Conservative]

That’s OK. They can come in via Mexico. No visa required.

If terrorists started learning Spanish, they could blend in in Mexico.

[Myrddin]

If terrorists started learning Spanish, they could blend in in Mexico.

It's telling when the "illegal" arrested is wearing nice, clean clothes and speaking Arabic. It definitely stands out compared to the Mexicans they are trying to shadow on the way across the border.

[Paleo Conservative]

It's telling when the "illegal" arrested is wearing nice, clean clothes and speaking Arabic. It definitely stands out compared to the Mexicans they are trying to shadow on the way across the border.

They could pass themselves off as being Spanish, if they were speaking Spanish instead of Arabic. The Arabs interbred with Spaniards for over 800 years. It wouldn't take much for an Arab terrorist to blend into a Hispanic population if they learned Spanish.

[snowsislander]

This would be a huge shock, given the large number of Brits who cross the Atlantic (and with the pound at two-to-one, that number is only going to get bigger).

If we Americans lose tourist visa reciprocity with Great Britain, it will be very inconvenient for many people here also.

[RightWhale]

Good thing the Queen got her tour in before the deadline.

[xp38]

It’s a courtesy and convenience but hardly a right.

[Paleo Conservative]

It’s the Brits’ fault for letting in so many extremist Muslim immigrants.

[monday]

“That’s OK. They can come in via Mexico. No visa required.”

I think it might be a little more difficult than you think. Not because its difficult getting by the border patrol, but because the gangs of coyotes who control the Mexican side of the border, regularly rob, rape and/or kill anyone who tries to cross the border without their permission. If you don’t speak Spanish with a Mexican accent you become an easy mark. Coyotes regularly charge non Mexicans hundreds, even thousands of dollars to cross the border, and then double cross them anyway.

Mexicans usually know someone living on the border and with local knowledge it’s easier and cheaper, although still far from safe, for them to cross.

[highball]

If we Americans lose tourist visa reciprocity with Great Britain, it will be very inconvenient for many people here also.

Agreed.

[Savage Beast]

"U.S. security officials are deeply concerned at the ease with which young Britons who have trained in Pakistani terror camps can enter America under the visa-waiver programme."

The visa-waver programme??? What about the open Mexican Border?!!!??

The Border that Border Patrol Agents are forbidden to protect!!! Border Patrol Agents who are thrown into prison for doing their job!!!

The Border across which illegal aliens--and who knows whether they're "young Britons"--or anybody else!--"who have trained in Pakistani terror camps"--or any other terror camps--pour like the waters of Lake Pontchartrain after Hurricaine Katrina!!!

If illegal aliens ("law abiding undocumented immigrants", to the Left--nevermind that entering the country illegally is not law-abiding!) can pour over the Mexican Border--what's to stop terrorists? drug pushers? criminals of every kind, stripe, savagery, and brutality???!!!

And, by the way, thank you, President Bush and the Republican Congress! And thank you for ignoring this issue and thereby handing Congress to the depraved, decadent, anti-American Democrats in 2006--and thus assuring that the problem will become far worse!

[3AngelaD]

They need to do away with the entire Visa Waiver Program. It should have been cancelled on September 12, 2001.

[Wallace T.]

The Mexican criminals hate the United States as much as the Muslim terrorists do. The Muslim terror groups can afford to pay the local Mexican gangsters some more money if needed. The leaders of the terror groups can also deal with the gangster overlords and bypass the local soldiers/hitmen in places like Tijuana and Juarez, not unlike the Feds dealt with the top Mafia bosses during World War II to secure Sicily and southern Italy from the supporters of Mussolini.

The bottom line is: don't bet on local, low level Mexican gangsters messing with Muslim terrorists.

[Xenalyte]

We banned Omar Khayyam? Edward FitzGerald is gonna be pissed.