This week’s conviction of five former organizers of the Holy Land Foundation, an Islamic charity operating in Dallas, for funneling more that $12 million to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, is clearly the most significant victory in the effort to crack down on terror financing through certain Islamic charitable groups that serve as front groups for terror operations.
Another national security tool appears on the verge of taking a hit this
week. A tool that has been effective despite its rare use.
The financial crisis continues to spread, within the past two weeks, we have seen the fall of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG in the US alone. (In the United Kingdom HBOS has fallen, with others on rocky ground, and in Australia Macquarie Bank is likewise at risk.)
These are fiscal events, and many in the security and law enforcement arenas (for the two are different, despite the perceptions of many that expertise in one translates to expertise in the other) are thinking about their own personal finances, but not about the implications for their operations.
It was not too long ago that I was proud to wear a badge watching marchers walk by with signs for one cause or another. The lines of law enforcement officers were there to ensure that all Americans could exercise their rights to express opinions without negatively impacting the rights and freedoms of other citizens. Because of a few angry and violent people, the role of a police officer has had to change. These small groups of people that have no opinions and have no respect for constitutional rights. Destroying property and harming others is not a constitutional right.
While there may be no legislative resolution to the thorny issue of illegal immigration this year, the next President and next DHS Secretary will have no choice. Technology is forcing the country to recognize the reality of illegal employment, and E-Verify is just one part of that new reality.
Barack Obama picks political fight with immigration agents, accusing them of terrorizing illegal immigrants and calling for a “top-to-bottom” review of the policies of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
ICE’s Scheduled Departure program — or any voluntary immigration deportation program — will fail until Congress reforms immigration law to provide some incentive for illegal immigrants to voluntarily participate. As it stands, Congress has created incentives for just the opposite.
In light of the recent controversies provoked by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement more aggressively pursuing its mission with regard to worksite enforcement, this article in the current issue of Business Week is worth reading.
When agents at ICE aren’t being criticized for not being aggressive enough, they’re being attacked for being too aggressive. A columnist on the West Coast attacks ICE as a “do nothing” agency even as politicians on the East Coast are accusing agents of being terrorists and Nazis. What’s wrong with this picture?
The latest criticism of Congressman Luis Gutierrez for his outrageous comparison of ICE agents to Nazis comes from the Anti-Defamation League. In an August 14 letter to Gutierrez, the ADL calls upon the congressman to repudiate his “inappropriate and insensitive” remarks.
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