Stopping Terrorism at Our Borders

The horrible attacks of September 11 have shown us just how vulnerable the United States is to a fanatically determined group of terrorists. The terrorists evidently entered our country quite easily, traveled freely among us and received commercial flight training without much inquiry, all while in contact with a known radical who has sworn to wreak havoc on America and its citizens.

Perhaps we were lulled into complacency by the 1999 arrest of Ahmed Ressam along the Canadian border. Despite relatively lax border enforcement along that huge stretch of border, federal agents foiled Ressam’s plan to blow up the Los Angeles International Airport when they found explosive materials in the trunk of his car. Heightened security surrounding the millennium celebrations and, quite frankly, luck played a role in stopping his plot.

Abu Mezer, however, faced no such difficulty getting into this country. After entering Canada on a student visa, he secretly arrived in the United States aboard a bus after being caught twice before trying to enter the country illegally. But he received permission to stay in the U.S. by requesting asylum. Fortunately, Mezer was arrested for making pipe bombs in a Brooklyn apartment after an informant tipped off police.

It’s not surprising that these two would-be terrorists entered the U.S. across the Canadian border. At 4,000 miles, it is the longest undefended border in the world.

News reports have declared Canada is a haven for terrorists because of its lax asylum laws and shortage of law enforcement resources. More than 50 terrorist groups have representatives in Canada, according to the latest intelligence reports.

Combine the long, unfortified border with the presence of support organizations, it becomes understandable why a route for terrorists into our country might pass through Canada. The problem, though, is also in our own lax enforcement along the border.

Rugged mountains and thick forests could hide clandestine border crossings. Yet the two terrorists simply used the highways to enter our country illegally. This is also not surprising. The United States has almost 10,000 border agents, but only 334 of them patrol the Canadian border where crossings are sometimes abandoned with only orange traffic cones guarding them.

Even with 10,000 agents guarding our borders, we are still ill-equipped to handle the 530 million annual crossings, not to mention the 6 million visitor visas issued and 500,000 immigrant visas issued each year. A 1998 study of Customs Service staffing needs called for hiring another 6,481 inspectors and 2,041 special agents to work along the borders.

Having adequate personnel to protect our borders will help, but other problems need to be addressed, as well. Immigration officials need adequate time to check the records of suspected terrorists detained at our borders. Currently, border officials are allowed to detain suspected illegal immigrants for 48 hours before proceeding with deportation or criminal charges. Inadequate sharing of information between law enforcement agencies and the border agents plays a role in allowing identifiable terrorists to slip into the U.S.

To solve these problems, the PATRIOT Act, which is working its way through Congress, would broaden the definition of terrorist activity and terrorist organizations.

Under the proposed legislation the number of Border Patrol agents and immigration inspectors on the northern border would be tripled and technology to help monitor it would be improved. And suspects caught at the border could be detained for seven days while law enforcement agencies check their backgrounds.

Additionally, the bill allows the Attorney General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to share data from their domestic criminal record databases with the Secretary of State for adjudicating visa applications. This measure would help to make sure law enforcement officials have the information they need to identify and charge terrorists.

These steps will help, but more needs to be done. That’s why I am cosponsoring legislation to improve interagency criminal record sharing, designed to further enhance the ability of our immigration services to spot and detain suspects. New technologies that deter the counterfeiting of travel documents and improve the recordkeeping measures tracking the visa status of foreign visitors will also help.

Americans have always welcomed immigrants and visitors. But we are now forced to ponder tougher measures to stop illegal border crossings. These changes need to target illegal entry while, to the extent possible, maintain our historic openness to guests from all over the world.

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