Ring smuggling illegals from South Asia halted

[Cleita]

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Ring smuggling illegals from South Asia halted
More than 50 Indians, Pakistanis smuggled

Thursday, April 13, 2006

By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
P-I REPORTER

BLAINE -- U.S. and Canadian authorities Wednesday announced they have broken up a human-smuggling syndicate accused of moving more than 50 undocumented immigrants from India and Pakistan into the United States.

The smugglers used Seattle as a way station, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Bud Mercer, a superintendent of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, announces the breakup of a human smuggling ring during a news conference Wednesday at the Peace Arch border crossing in Blaine. The ring was suspected of shepherding dozens of Indians and Pakistanis into Washington.

A federal grand jury in Seattle has indicted 14 U.S. and Canadian residents so far in connection with the scheme, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Whalley. more...........

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/266539_smuggle13.html

So it seems both our borders are leaking. I would bet there is a better chance terrorists could come in with the Pakistani immigrants than with the Mexican ones down south.

I think this illustrates the problem. Now I'm familiar with those remote way stations in Washington state that are out and out wilderness areas. I mean let's face it we can't keep immigrants out as long as there is a lucrative market in smuggling them in so instead of blaming the immigrants, we not only need to go after the employers and the smugglers, but also we need to make it easier for people to immigrate here legally.

[Cleita]

1. From the amount of interest shown in this OP,

I can tell that it isn't illegal immigration that is the problem, it's illegal immigration over our southern border that is the problem.

[Berserker]

7. illegal immigration

over either border is a BIG problem.

[shamrock]

2. yes

We need to control both of our borders. And yes, we need to revise our immigration laws. It really is hard for people to come here legally. Of the many immigrants my husband and I have sponsored (family) it has taken from five to ten years for their papers to be approved. the one for ten years was especially hard because during that time the children became adults and couldn't come as dependants of the parents, and had to do their paperwork separately.
I also have a son-in-law who came here illegally from Mexico as a migrant worker. He later got his green-card and we have three lovely grand-daughters as a result.

[shamrock]

3. well Cleita,

since this post isn't very active, I'll just post another, if you don't mind. I think maybe some people are just getting burned out on immigration issues maybe? I know some of the posts get pretty heated. I know that my feelings get hurt (waahhhh...) when it's implyed that I'm racist, or a bigot, or unsympathetic toward Mexicans, or hateful. But that's not how I am. Maybe I don't express myself well. I will say, that I have many relatives who are immigrants. My husband of 43 yrs. came from Peru in 1963. We have since then helped to bring most of his family here (large family). I have a sister-in-law who is from France, a brother-in-law who is from Chile, a daughter-in-law and an Aunt who are Canadian, a son-in-law who is Mexican, etc. In 1976 we loaded up our jeep waggoneer and with our four children drove to Peru from Oregon. What an adventure. We travelled through about 11 countries, and stayed in Peru for 3 months. Not everyone who feels we need to 'control' immigration is racist (for sure some are). The example you give is just one of the reasons that we need some sort of control of our borders. I guess there's just not an easy answer to this problem. I have seen the sort of poverty that people try to escape. And believe me, Mexico is no worse than any of the other South or Central American countries. I think Nicaragua was the absolute worst, and Columbia the most dangerous.

[Cleita]

4. Apparently your posts didn't come across as racist to me

or you would be one of my 'ignores'. I was born in Chile and my parent pretty much dragged me back and forth from California to Chile many times when I was growing up. We of course either went by ship or airplane. I always wanted to do that trip from the USA down to the tip of Chile over to the eastern side of SA through Brazil, by car but life and funds held me back. I am so jealous of you that you got as far as Peru. Sounds fabulous!

Yes, traveling through Latin America does wake you up to the tribulations of the poor in those nations. You never look at poverty again as being something that people bring on themselves like the Republicans try to make you believe. It's just not true.

[RagingInMiami]

8. "Columbia is the most dangerous"?

If you're going to spewing out personal opinions without any information to back it up, at least learn to spell the name of the fucking country.

It's Colombia.

[shamrock]

10. and you could learn

a little more manners and a little less profanity. And while you're at it check your own post, you left out a word....."
"If you're going to spewing out"

[Cleita]

5. One more kick for the left coast.

Someone has to be interested in the fact that this isn't just a hispanic problem.

[dannofoot]

6. By the thread title...

...I assumed that illegals were smuggling rings into the U.S. from Asia. God knows there are too many cheap jade rings here, with precious few above size 8.

Sorry...


(I don't do smileys....)

[Cleita]

9. I didn't write the banner but it could have been worded

a little more clearly. :-) I did the smiley for you.

[countryjake]

11. Cutbacks and "shifting" agents is also a problem that could be addressed..

since there aren't nearly enough Border Patrol, they keep moving them around to problem areas, right along with equipment and airplanes. After that millennium bomber guy was stopped in the Pacific Northwest, they transferred a whole bunch of agents up here from California, but then when 9/11 happened, they shifted those guys back south. Then later they took what few guys we had left and assigned them down in Arizona, leaving the Blaine sector (which is humongous) manned by a skeleton crew. Even with just a few, they could do their job better if they didn't lose the aircraft each time those shifts happen.

Then there's that National Intelligence Reform Act that our prez so quickly pushed thru in late 2004, which originally was supposed to add something like 10,000 border patrol agents over the years, but only a few months later that figure was drastically reduced, due to a "belt-tightening" budget and "other priorities".

The Law in my county had been promised that some of those "10,000" agents would be filling in the void of unpatrolled, rarely traveled, numerous mountain roads that criss-cross this area. Considering that one man bearing the makings of destruction was already captured entering the country right up here in this neck of the woods, you'd think that such a sector might seem an important priority, but I guess folks looking for work are more of a threat to our nation.