Myth About Terrorism No. 3: “Terrorists are likely to cross into the United States from Mexico”

Unfortunately, in this blogger’s view (see here, an article authored by me and Bernie Trujillo), the debate over immigration reform has been hijacked by September 11, the “war on terror”, and national security concerns in general.  Alan B. Krueger in “5 Myths About Terrorism,” published in the Washington Post on September 11, wrote that Myth number 3 is that “Terrorists are likely to cross into the United States from Mexico.”  Krueger’s analysis:

“This is a favorite chestnut of some activists and politicians keen to tighten immigration and build a fence on the Mexican border. But the historical record doesn’t bear it out. Of course, the past may not be a good predictor of the future, but terrorists have rarely crossed into the United States from Mexico. In a recent Nixon Center study of 373 Islamist terrorists, Robert Leiken and Steven Brooke concluded: “Despite widespread alarms raised over terrorist infiltration from Mexico, we found no terrorist presence in Mexico and no terrorists who entered the U.S. from Mexico.” By contrast, the authors found “a sizeable terrorist presence in Canada and a number of Canadian-based terrorists who have entered the U.S.” For example, Ahmed Ressam, the Algerian terrorist who tried to blow up Los Angeles International Airport in December 1999, was caught trying to cross the border from Canada into Washington state.”

KJ