Pubdate: Fri, 05 Oct 2001
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
Copyright: 2001 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Contact:  http://www.seattle-pi.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/408
Author: Joel Connelly
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)

IN THE NORTHWEST: CONGRESS MUST ACT TO PLUG POROUS CANADIAN BORDER

BELLINGHAM -- During his years as deputy chief U.S. Border Patrol agent in 
Blaine, Gene Davis had the unenviable job of explaining government 
priorities that on their face were absurd.

Davis would detail emerging threats along the U.S.-Canada border -- 
"snakeheads" bringing in illegals from China, apprehension of potential 
terrorists, the blossoming of "B.C. Bud" marijuana smuggling by organized 
criminal rings -- and then report that more of his agents had been 
transferred to the Mexican border.

Behind Davis' diplomatic words I could hear the grinding of teeth. 
Nowadays, as homeland security takes center stage in the United States, the 
25-year border veteran is retired and can speak his mind.

Problems at America's northern border have been "deliberately ignored" by 
the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Davis said. "It's not only 
sleeping: It has kept up a charade that the only real problem is at the 
southern border."

"Once you get past the U.S. border, you are home free. There is virtually 
no interior enforcement in this country against people who are illegally 
here," Davis added.

If you doubt Davis, consider the case of a Palestinian and would-be 
terrorist named Abu Mezer.

Mezer arrived in Canada eight years ago on a student visa. Shortly after 
coming to Toronto, he applied for refugee status, claiming persecution in 
Israel, which allowed him to remain in Canada despite two criminal 
convictions. He also applied for a U.S. visa, but was denied.

In June 1996, a hypothermic Mezer and one other man were caught illegally 
crossing the border in a remote part of the North Cascades National Park. 
"He had no criminal record, we couldn't hold him, so we kicked him back to 
Canada," Davis said.

Six days later, Mezer was caught again, jogging through Peace Arch Park 
that straddles the border. He was kicked back to Canada once more. In 
January of 1997, Mezer was apprehended a third time, boarding a bus in 
Bellingham with two other men of Middle East origin.

The Canadians wouldn't take him this time, so Mezer was locked up on 
$15,000 bond while deportation proceedings commenced. "One of our agents 
was strongly suspicious, and sent a file on his case to the FBI," Davis said.

In the meantime, Mezer requested political asylum: His bail was lowered to 
$5,000. He was bailed out -- the money put up by somebody else who was 
illegally in the United States -- and disappeared.

On July 31, 1997, police burst into a Brooklyn apartment: They found Mezer 
and another illegal putting together bombs for an attack on New York's 
subway system.

A subsequent report by the Inspector General's office of the Justice 
Department detailed what Davis had been talking about for years, and what 
the INS would not hear:

"His easy entry into Canada and his ability to remain in the Canada despite 
at least two criminal convictions and repeated attempts to enter the United 
States illegally highlight the difficult in controlling illegal immigration 
into the U.S."

"Mezer's case also reveals the shortage of Border Patrol resources 
available along the northwest border to halt illegal immigration. In light 
of how few Border Patrol agents are assigned to guard this section of the 
border on a regular basis, we found it surprising that Mezer was caught 
once, let alone three times, trying to enter the U.S."

Or, as Davis asked, "If we caught him three times, how many times didn't we 
catch him?"

The plugging of our porous northern border is a years-long task, one that 
goes far beyond just beating up on bureaucracy.

Of course, more Border Patrol staffing is needed. Our lawmakers can't just 
put this in the form of a polite request. Congress must specify that money 
go for additional agents at this border.

If inertia rules Canada's federal immigration policy, common cause can be 
made with the clear-headed premiers of British Columbia and Ontario, who 
are clamoring for construction of a North American security perimeter.

Agencies need to cooperate. "The FBI never acknowledged it got a copy of 
the report (on Abu Mezer), and there was no follow-up," Davis said.

Subsequently, a federal program on drug corridors was tapped to equip an 
interagency intelligence center at Blaine, the idea being that data would 
be evaluated close to border crossings. "But none of the agencies wanted to 
put analysts there to staff it," Davis observed

Driving up Chuckanut Drive, with the San Juan Islands in view, the "fourth 
corner" of America still seems an idyllic, sleepy backwater. Twenty-five 
miles away, however, 25 million people cross the U.S.- Canada border each 
year in Whatcom County.

After listening to Davis, Bellingham attorney Drew Pettus -- who worked on 
border issues for 15 years as a congressional aide -- spoke his mind.

"Federal agencies are chary to assert their own beliefs," Pettus said. 
"Blame the Congress. It is Congress that has given low priority to 
immigration issues. Congress decided the main problem was on the southern 
border. That's where all the noise was coming from. And that's where any 
real effort to deal with this situation has got to originate."
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MAP posted-by: Jackl