PAGE THREE
Michelle Malkin
IMMIGRATION IS A NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE
By Michelle Malkin
By Michelle Malkin
We all know what happened on September 11, 2001. But how many of us recall
what happened on February 26,
1993?
That was the date of the first World Trade Center attack, the precursor to 9/11
carried out by a cell of Middle Eastern jihadists. Key members of that cell were
illegal aliens.
Mahmud Abouhalima was an Egyptian illegal alien working as a cab driver in New
York. He falsely claimed to be an agricultural worker under the 1986 illegal alien
amnesty law and snagged a green card that allowed him to travel back and forth to
Pakistan for al Qaeda training. Abouhalima said he was a strawberry picker, even
what happened on February 26,
1993?
That was the date of the first World Trade Center attack, the precursor to 9/11
carried out by a cell of Middle Eastern jihadists. Key members of that cell were
illegal aliens.
Mahmud Abouhalima was an Egyptian illegal alien working as a cab driver in New
York. He falsely claimed to be an agricultural worker under the 1986 illegal alien
amnesty law and snagged a green card that allowed him to travel back and forth to
Pakistan for al Qaeda training. Abouhalima said he was a strawberry picker, even
even though he had never been anywhere near a strawberry field. Overwhelmed INS workers -- who are
driven to reduce backlogs by simply shredding or rubber stamping applications -- failed to vet his claims.
Mohammed Salameh, the operative who rented the truck used in the 1993 bombing, was denied amnesty
after filing a bogus claim. But because the INS didn't have the resources or the will to deport him, he was
able to work and plot freely right under our noses.
The mastermind of the 1993 plot and of another foiled plot to bomb New York landmarks, Sheik Abdul
Rahman, won asylum here based on a fraudulent claim and was allowed to remain thanks to a deadly
combination of immigration and intelligence lapses. Seven people died and thousands were injured in the
first World Trade Center bombing, which amounted to a trial run for the attack that would lead to the
deaths of another 3,000 innocent men, women, and children eight years later.
All of the 9/11 hijackers entered the country with short-term visas
issued by State Dept. consular offices abroad. Fifteen of the 19
came from Saudi Arabia, where a special program allowed them
to get fast-track visas. That program, called Visa Express, was
hatched by American bureaucrats concerned about wealthy Saudis
waiting in long lines. So no one bothered to double-check the
hijackers' applications, which were so sloppy that they made no sense.
To give you a couple of examples, one of them put "Washington hotel" as his address, another described his
occupation as "Teeter." Thus, despite obviously lying on their applications, they gained entry to plot mass
murder on American soil.
Once in the U.S., several of the hijackers needed fake government documents. They hooked up with illegal
alien day laborers who hung out at a Virginia convenience store near the Pentagon. After waiting around
with a couple of $20 bills, an illegal alien from El Salvador was willing and able to give them the documents
they needed to board the planes they flew on 9/11. The local cops whom I interviewed admitted knowing
that those people hanging around the convenience store were here illegally, but they did nothing about it.
The lesson is this: Lax immigration enforcement enables enemy foreign agents to exploit a system that was
intended to welcome those who want to make better lives for themselves on our terms.
Before 9/11, our nation convinced itself that it could afford massive, systematic abuse and undermining of
immigration laws. After 1993, in an age of Islamic terrorism and nuclear threat, we should have been
permanently disabused of that notion. But we continued in our folly. And we continue in it still today.
Let's look at some facts:
● There are now upwards of 20 million illegal aliens in the US.
● Roughly 1 million legal immigrants are admitted to the US. every year.
● Some 400,000 illegal aliens have been ordered deported, but are on the loose in the US after being
released by federal immigration courts.
● Some 400,000 illegal aliens have been ordered deported, but are on the loose in the US after being
released by federal immigration courts.
● There are only 20,000 detention beds in the entire country to hold illegal aliens.
● There are only 2,000 federal agents employed by the Department of Homeland Security to track down
the estimated 12-20 million illegal aliens who are living, working, going to school, getting driver's licenses
and, yes, committing crimes and plotting terrorist attacks in America as we speak.
● Border fences to our north and south are a joke, even while we're sending money to Egypt and Mexico
to help them build fences on their southern borders.
Despite the fact that Congress created the behemoth Dept. of Homeland Security, there is still no
systematic tracking of criminal alien felons across the country; sanctuary for illegal aliens -- that is, deliberate
non-enforcement of the laws -- remains the policy in almost every major metropolis; and "catch and
release" remains standard operating procedure for untold thousands of illegal aliens who pass through the
fingers of Federal immigration authorities every day.
My book, Invasion, argued in great detail that our current immigration and entrance system is in shambles,
partly by neglect and partly by design . From America's negligent consular offices overseas, to our porous
air, land, and sea points of entry, to our ineffective detention and deportation policies, our federal
immigration authorities have failed at every level to protect our borders and preserve our sovereignty.
The argument of my book was simple: Immigration in a post-9/11 world must be treated as a national
security issue. Enforcement of immigration laws must be clear and consistent. Lawbreakers must be
punished, not rewarded. Illegal aliens must be deported, not naturalized. And the national interest, not
special interests – whether Big Business or liberal multiculturalism -- must drive immigration policy.
I agree with the late Texas congresswoman Barbara Jordan -- a liberal black Democrat and respected
immigration authority -- who said that credible immigration policy rests on three simple principles: "People
who should get in, get in; people who should not enter are kept out; and people who are deportable should
be required to leave."
Contrary to the misguided claims of today's open-borders lobby, the demand for a more discriminating
immigration policy -- one that welcomes American dreamers and bars American destroyers -- does not
stem from fear or hatred of foreigners, but from the idea of self-preservation and from love of country.
Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution states clearly: "The United States shall guarantee to every State in
this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion." We are not
a boarding house for the world. We are a sovereign nation. It's time we started acting like one.
driven to reduce backlogs by simply shredding or rubber stamping applications -- failed to vet his claims.
Mohammed Salameh, the operative who rented the truck used in the 1993 bombing, was denied amnesty
after filing a bogus claim. But because the INS didn't have the resources or the will to deport him, he was
able to work and plot freely right under our noses.
The mastermind of the 1993 plot and of another foiled plot to bomb New York landmarks, Sheik Abdul
Rahman, won asylum here based on a fraudulent claim and was allowed to remain thanks to a deadly
combination of immigration and intelligence lapses. Seven people died and thousands were injured in the
first World Trade Center bombing, which amounted to a trial run for the attack that would lead to the
deaths of another 3,000 innocent men, women, and children eight years later.
All of the 9/11 hijackers entered the country with short-term visas
issued by State Dept. consular offices abroad. Fifteen of the 19
came from Saudi Arabia, where a special program allowed them
to get fast-track visas. That program, called Visa Express, was
hatched by American bureaucrats concerned about wealthy Saudis
waiting in long lines. So no one bothered to double-check the
hijackers' applications, which were so sloppy that they made no sense.
To give you a couple of examples, one of them put "Washington hotel" as his address, another described his
occupation as "Teeter." Thus, despite obviously lying on their applications, they gained entry to plot mass
murder on American soil.
Once in the U.S., several of the hijackers needed fake government documents. They hooked up with illegal
alien day laborers who hung out at a Virginia convenience store near the Pentagon. After waiting around
with a couple of $20 bills, an illegal alien from El Salvador was willing and able to give them the documents
they needed to board the planes they flew on 9/11. The local cops whom I interviewed admitted knowing
that those people hanging around the convenience store were here illegally, but they did nothing about it.
The lesson is this: Lax immigration enforcement enables enemy foreign agents to exploit a system that was
intended to welcome those who want to make better lives for themselves on our terms.
Before 9/11, our nation convinced itself that it could afford massive, systematic abuse and undermining of
immigration laws. After 1993, in an age of Islamic terrorism and nuclear threat, we should have been
permanently disabused of that notion. But we continued in our folly. And we continue in it still today.
Let's look at some facts:
● There are now upwards of 20 million illegal aliens in the US.
● Roughly 1 million legal immigrants are admitted to the US. every year.
● Some 400,000 illegal aliens have been ordered deported, but are on the loose in the US after being
released by federal immigration courts.
● Some 400,000 illegal aliens have been ordered deported, but are on the loose in the US after being
released by federal immigration courts.
● There are only 20,000 detention beds in the entire country to hold illegal aliens.
● There are only 2,000 federal agents employed by the Department of Homeland Security to track down
the estimated 12-20 million illegal aliens who are living, working, going to school, getting driver's licenses
and, yes, committing crimes and plotting terrorist attacks in America as we speak.
● Border fences to our north and south are a joke, even while we're sending money to Egypt and Mexico
to help them build fences on their southern borders.
Despite the fact that Congress created the behemoth Dept. of Homeland Security, there is still no
systematic tracking of criminal alien felons across the country; sanctuary for illegal aliens -- that is, deliberate
non-enforcement of the laws -- remains the policy in almost every major metropolis; and "catch and
release" remains standard operating procedure for untold thousands of illegal aliens who pass through the
fingers of Federal immigration authorities every day.
My book, Invasion, argued in great detail that our current immigration and entrance system is in shambles,
partly by neglect and partly by design . From America's negligent consular offices overseas, to our porous
air, land, and sea points of entry, to our ineffective detention and deportation policies, our federal
immigration authorities have failed at every level to protect our borders and preserve our sovereignty.
The argument of my book was simple: Immigration in a post-9/11 world must be treated as a national
security issue. Enforcement of immigration laws must be clear and consistent. Lawbreakers must be
punished, not rewarded. Illegal aliens must be deported, not naturalized. And the national interest, not
special interests – whether Big Business or liberal multiculturalism -- must drive immigration policy.
I agree with the late Texas congresswoman Barbara Jordan -- a liberal black Democrat and respected
immigration authority -- who said that credible immigration policy rests on three simple principles: "People
who should get in, get in; people who should not enter are kept out; and people who are deportable should
be required to leave."
Contrary to the misguided claims of today's open-borders lobby, the demand for a more discriminating
immigration policy -- one that welcomes American dreamers and bars American destroyers -- does not
stem from fear or hatred of foreigners, but from the idea of self-preservation and from love of country.
Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution states clearly: "The United States shall guarantee to every State in
this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion." We are not
a boarding house for the world. We are a sovereign nation. It's time we started acting like one.
We are not a boarding house
for the world. We are a
sovereign nation. It's time we
started acting like one
for the world. We are a
sovereign nation. It's time we
started acting like one