ABC News: "Officials Fear Terrorists Could Try to Enter U.S. Through Mexico"

A national source finally picks up on the story:

The U.S. government has become increasingly concerned that al Qaeda might try to exploit security gaps at the nation's borders, especially the Mexican border, ABC News has learned.

Concerns about border security were highlighted on July 19, when officials at McAllen-Miller International Airport in southern Texas arrested a woman suspected of having ties to al Qaeda...

The arrest is one reason why U.S. officials are increasingly concerned al Qaeda may try to smuggle terrorists into the United States from Mexico.

"Al Qaeda has recognized that one of our vulnerabilities is our [in]ability to completely seal and control access through Mexico," said ABC News consultant Jerry Hauer, former director of New York City's Office of Emergency Management...

"It's easy for anyone, including a terrorist who really wants to get into the United States to do so by crossing the Mexican or Canadian border," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, former chief of antiterrorism in the Bush and Clinton administrations.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. has been trying to improve security at both borders with unmanned surveillance aircraft, increased vehicle searches and X-ray devices that scan vehicles for hidden illegal weapons or people.

Along the U.S.-Canada border in the woods of Vermont, sensors hidden in the ground trigger surveillance cameras that zero in on anyone trying to enter the United States illegally.

But it may be impossible to fully police the more than 5,000 miles of U.S. border with Canada and Mexico.

ABC News has finally noticed that our nearly-open borders are a security risk? Well, duh. There's years of backstory involved here that ABC has largely ignored until now.

Our administration officials have become "increasingly concerned?" So, they just noticed that their open borders policies have created a security risk? And, these are the Keystone Kops we put in charge of preventing another 9/11?

The problem here is not that the idea of terrorists coming over the border is a new thing. The problem is our "leaders'" willful attempts to ignore the danger. While 90-year-old grannies are strip-searched, the Racial Identity groups of the left and the serf labor lobby of the right have steadfastly ignored the very real probability of terrorists coming over the border.

Certainly, the administration has been "trying" to increase border security with the use of drones. At the same time, they've been trying to encourage as many illegal aliens as possible to come here via talk of amnesties and new giveaways for illegal aliens.

We've got over a million people coming illegally over the Mexican border each year. If that number were reduced to just thousands, those illegal crossers would stand out. Our present forces are able to handle thousands each year, especially when augmented with sensors, drones, cameras, and human intelligence. Our deserts provide a natural defense, as anyone who's attempted to hike even a few miles through one can attest.

The way to reduce the number of crossers is to - surprise - crack down on illegal immigration. Instead of doing just a dozen workplace sweeps each year, there should be hundreds, and companies that violate our immigration laws should receive heavy fines.

Those companies would be forced to hire citizens and legal residents. That would reduce the major incentive to come here illegally. Together with ending financial incentives to live here illegally, that would be good for American workers and it would make border control a great deal easier.

Previous coverage starts here.

This site contains dozens of examples of the Bush administration's unwillingness to enforce our immigration laws. Just one very blatant example can be found here. That post reports how a Bush administration official cynically and dismissively laughed when it was suggested that Bush enforce our immigration laws.