Canada Has Terrorists, Mexico Has Peasants: Where O Where Should We Build That Wall Now?

Probably the stupidest argument used by anti-immigrationists in favor of building a wall on our southern border is the need to protect the US against terrorist infiltration. While anti-immigrationists are going nuts over a so-called security threat represented by the unwalled border with Mexico, Canada has just arrested 17 terrorists who were planning to blow up Canadian landmarks. (Here.) The New York Times story doesn't say much to identify the terrorists. All the story says is the terrorists have no known links to Al Qaeda and they are of South Asian descent. Somehow I doubt that they are Hindu or Buddhist.

The AP has a more useful report on the arrests. (Here.)

"Luc Portelance, assistant director of operations with Canada's spy agency, CSIS, said the suspects 'appeared to have become adherents of a violent ideology inspired by al-Qaida' but that investigators have yet to prove a link to the terror network.

Five of the suspects were led in handcuffs Saturday to the Ontario Court of Justice, which was surrounded by snipers and bomb-sniffing dogs. A judge told the men not to communicate with one another and set their first bail hearing for Tuesday.

Alvin Chand, a brother of suspect Steven Vikash Chand, said outside the courthouse that his brother was innocent and authorities 'just want to show they're doing something.'

'He's not a terrorist, come on. He's a Canadian citizen,' Chand said. 'The people that were arrested are good people, they go to the mosque, they go to school, go to college.'

FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said in Washington there may have been a connection between the Canadian suspects and a Georgia Tech student and another American who had traveled to Canada to meet with Islamic extremists to discuss locations for a terrorist strike.

Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, U.S. citizens who grew up in the Atlanta area, were arrested in March."

The threat represented by the men appears to be real and substantial. The New York Times reports:

"The men accused in Canada operated what the police called training camps for its members. At their news conference, the police displayed at least one pistol, electronics components, military fatigues, army-style boots and two-way radios they said were used at the camps, although they would not disclose their locations.

The Toronto Star reported that in 2004 the intelligence agency began monitoring Internet exchanges, some of which were encrypted. According to the newspaper, the training in camps took place north of Toronto. Members of the group, according to that account, often visited a popular Canadian chain of doughnut shops to wash up following their training sessions.

Counterterrorism officials said that interviews with suspects would provide greater clarity about the nature of the plot, but they said that the men had taken a significant step, moving beyond the planning stage, toward acquiring a large quantity of potentially explosive fertilizer."

So, while Mexico has millions of poor peasants who come to America to work and provide a better life for themselves and their families, Canada has Islamist terrorists and terrorist training camps. Yet anti-immigrationists want to build a wall to keep out Mexicans. Between the two countries Canada is probably more of a risk for terrorist infiltration than Mexico. Let's not forget that the Y2K terrorist was caught trying to enter the US from Canada not from Mexico.

It'll be interesting to see if the anti-immigrationists who use security as an excuse to attack Mexico will turn their attention to the risk of terrorist infiltration from Canada.

-tdr

Technorati: Terrorism, War, Immigration, Mexico, Canada.