BY EMMA PEREZ-TREVIÑO
The Brownsville Herald
July 23, 2004 —
Middle Easterners with possible terrorist ties have been detained after entering
the country from Mexico but released for lack of jail space, said U.S. Rep.
Solomon P. Ortiz, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Subcommittee
on Readiness.
“It is true. It is very reliable information, from the
horse’s mouth, and it’s happening all over the place,” Ortiz, D-Texas, told The
Herald on Thursday.
“It’s very, very scary, and members (of Congress)
know about this. We have contacted several agencies, and I have talked to some
people, but I can’t say who.”
Ortiz’s comments come amid Thursday’s release of the 9/11 panel’s report into
events leading to the deadliest attack on U.S. soil and as the House
Appropriations Committee passed an amendment to the Transportation-Treasury Bill
to stop the use of Mexican identification cards in this
country.
Currently, matricula consulars are used by Mexican nationals to
open bank accounts in the United States and obtain driver’s licenses in some
states.
The amendment, submitted by U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas,
will go before the full House in September.
Culberson said the cards
present a danger to national security, pointing to the June 26, 2003, testimony
of Steve McCraw, assistant director of the FBI’s Office of Intelligence, before
a House Judiciary subcommittee.
“The ability of foreign nationals to use
the matricula consular to create a well-documented, but fictitious, identity in
the United States 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,” McCraw testified. “It also allows them
to board planes without revealing their true identity. … At least one individual
of Middle Eastern descent has also been arrested in possession of the matricula
consular card.”
Ortiz had not heard of the case that McCraw cited or that
any potential terrorist had been detained with a matricula card.
“… It
seems to me that this is just against Mexicans,” Ortiz said, “because (U.S.
officials) are picking up a lot of (potential terrorists) and releasing them on
their personal recognizance and they (the suspects) don’t return to their court
dates, and they (U.S. officials) don’t know where they are
going.”
Culberson’s spokesmen Tony Essalih and Jeff Morehouse told The
Herald on Thursday that U.S. Attorney Michael T. Shelby of the Southern District
of Texas told Culberson that several Middle Easterners have used Hispanic
surnames to enter the country undetected.
“This was during a meeting in
Houston May 25,” Essalih said.
The Middle Easterners are from Yemen,
Essalih said.
Shelby is not issuing any statements, said Executive
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Herrera of the Southern District of Texas, noting
that the office is prohibited from confirming or denying any
investigation.
“That is a federal rule,” Herrera said.
Culberson’s
spokesmen said they didn’t know how many potential terrorists Shelby identified
that have used Hispanic surnames to enter the country.
They said that the
potential terrorists apparently entered through the U.S.-Mexico border and were
detected in South Texas and as far north as Houston.
Essalih said he had
not heard any reports that potential terrorists were being released due to lack
of jail space.
He said, “It would be terrifying if that were the
case.”
eperez-trevino@link.freedom.com