Al Qaeda and the Latino Gang-Bangers
The situation at the border now poses a grave threat to national security.
Agent Mike Scioli of the U.S. Border Patrol confirms that the Tucson sector of the Border Patrol is facing a worsening problem with Mara Salvatrucha, a Salvadoran street gang that now controls the flow of arms, drugs, and illegal aliens into the U.S.
Two members of the violent gang were collared last week in Tucson and Nogales.
Twenty have been brought into custody since President Barack Obama assumed the oath of office on January 20, 2009.
But the Salvadoran gang is bringing more than guns, dope, and Mexican peasant workers over the border.
In the wake of 9/11, Mara Salvatrucha attracted the attention of top al Qaeda officials, who realized that the gang could be used to smuggle operatives and weapons into the United States. [1] An agreement was forged between the terrorists and the gang-bangers. In exchange for safe passage across the border, al Qaeda – through its cells in South America – agreed to pay the Maras from $30,000 to $50,000 for each sleeper agent they managed to smuggle into the country with bogus matricula consulars. [2]
Matricula consulars are official identification cards that are issued by the Mexican government through its consular offices. The cards verify that the bearers are Mexican citizens who are living outside of Mexico with the government’s permission.
According to U.S. officials, these cards pose a grave threat to national security. Steven McCraw, assistant director of the FBI’s Office of Intelligence, told a House Judiciary Subcommittee: “The ability of foreign nationals to use the matricula consular provides an opportunity for terrorists to move freely within the United States without triggering name-based watch lists that are disseminated to local police officers.”
Counterfeit matricula consulars are easy to obtain. In Los Angeles, the going rate is $90; in New York City, $150.
News of the alliance between al Qaeda and Mara Salvatrucha prompted Honduran officials, including Security Minister Oscar Alvarez, to adopt a zero-tolerance law that makes membership in the street gang punishable by 12 years in prison. Mara members responded to this legislation by beheading scores of victims and leaving notes on the bodies for the Honduran government. One note read: “Idiots, the end of the world is approaching.” [3]
According to border patrol officials, including Sheriff D’Wayne Jenigan of Del Rio, Texas, thousands of Special Interest Aliens (SIAs), with the help of Mara Salvatrucha “coyotes,” have made their way across the Mexican border and into the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Such SIAs come from countries that pose national security concerns: Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Somalia, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, and even Iraq.
The routes used by illegal aliens to enter the U.S. have become littered with discarded Muslim prayer blankets, pages from Islamic texts, and Arabic newspapers. Law enforcement officials have named such passageways “terrorists’ alleys” and a street leading north from the city of Douglas, Arizona, as “Arab Road.” [4]
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Paul L. Williams is the author of The Day of Islam: The Annihilation of America and the Western World, The Al Qaeda Connection, and other best-selling books. He is a frequent guest on such national news networks as ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, MSNBC, and NPR. Visit his website at http://thelastcrusade.org.
[1] Jerry Seper, “Al Qaeda Leader Identified in ‘Dirty Bomb’ Plot,” The Washington Times, October 5, 2004; “Al Qaeda Wants to Smuggle N-Material to U.S.,” Nation, November 17, 2004.
[2] Investigators on Eyewitness News 4, “Terrorist Alley: Illegals from Terrorist Nations Are Crossing the Border into Arizona,” KVOA-TV, Tucson, Arizona, aired August 13, 2004.
[3] Minister Oscar Alvarez, quoted in “Honduran Official: ‘Al Qaida Recruits Central American Gang,’” Associated Press, October 21, 2004.
[4] Investigators on Eyewitness News 4, “Terrorist Alley.”
SitemapIndex
RSS Feed