Connecting Dots

If you've read this little collection of musings for a while, you know my stance on our border security:  It sucks.  It is painfully easy for any motivated individual in Mexico to find a way to get himself and 30 of his closest friends to San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson, or El Paso.  Over the years we've heard stories of middle-eastern terrorists either using this low-speed superhighway to get into the country or planning on using it.  The same can be said for our northern border with Canada, or our shorelines.

Now we have two news reports that cause me to pause and take note:

A home-grown Islamist terrorist group, the Indian Mujahideen (IM), is suspected to be behind the three moderate to high intensity explosions in Mumbai on Wednesday which Home Minister P. Chidambaram said were "coordinated attack by terrorists".

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Between October 2009 and March 2011, the Border Patrol detained at least 2,600 illegal immigrants from India, a dramatic rise over the typical 150 to 300 arrests per year. 

So what we have here is a report that a terrorist group called the Indian Mujahideen is probably responsible for the latest bombing in India, and then a report that the Border Patrol is starting to see a pretty significant uptick in the number of Indian citizens who are circumventing our border controls by coming in through Mexico.  

India's economy is growing.  In a growing economy, you don't expect to see a lot of migration due to economic circumstances.  Are they leaving because of oppression in India?  I doubt it.  India still has a lot of the chains from the old Raj, but it is a functioning democracy.  Yes, if a person comes from a lower caste, they will face discrimination, but it's not as bad as it once was.

So why are they coming?  

My guess is that a lot of them are coming to be with family that has previously immigrated, either legally or illegally, as was mentioned in the Fox News article.  Coming to this country to re-unite with a family member has been a common occurance for centuries.  

But the tingling at the back of my neck tells me that there's something else here.  Mixed in with the migrants who only want to come in order to find a good job or to re-unite with their family, there very well may be members of the IM or other groups who want nothing more than to get past the thin shell of our border protections to get at the soft center of malls, theaters, and stadiums to continue their war against us non-believers.  How do we separate the sheep from the goats?

No matter whether they come from Honduras, Gaza, Tuscany, Belarus, or Punjab, if someone wants to come here to cause mischief and murder, they can.  If they can't get real travel documents, fake ones are easy to get.  If that doesn't work, then all it takes is a few thousand dollars and a few days walking across the Sonoran desert to get here.  We can't just be on the lookout for dark skinned men with shifty eyes and head-scarves.  There are people all around the world, motivated by money, religion, or politics, and of all body types and skin tones, who would like nothing more than to cause mayhem in the United States if only for the press attention it would garner.  

We need to lock down our borders as much as possible.  No country but this one seems to be neglecting this basic tenet of national security, and it is our Achilles heel in keeping those who would do us harm out of the country.