Mexican officials detained six Iraqis at checkpoints near the California border over the past week as they apparently were preparing to enter the United States, Mexico's attorney general's office said Tuesday. There was no evidence that the detained Iraqis had ties to any terrorist groups, Mexican officials said. There is a significant Iraqi Christian community in southern California. Still, the arrests spotlighted fears that terrorists might attempt to enter the United States from Mexico. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently raised that concern with U.S. lawmakers and Mexican officials.Four Iraqis were apprehended at the Mexicali airport on Saturday, said Abraham Sarabia, a spokesman for the attorney general's office in nearby Tijuana. Mexicali is across the border from Calexico, Calif. Traveling with the four Iraqis was an American woman whom Mr. Sarabia identified as Alya Kiryakous Dawood Sako. The four Iraqis currently are in the custody of Mexico's National Migration Institute. Dawood Sako has been returned to the United States. Two other Iraqis were detained March 23 at a highway checkpoint between San Luis Rio Colorado and Mexicali. They also remain in Mexican custody.
A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said the U.S. government was aware of the arrests in Mexico of only three Iraqi nationals traveling with a U.S. citizen. The U.S. official said that initial "unofficial" indications were that the Iraqis were just trying to get into the United States illegally and that there was no connection to terrorism or other suspicious activity. Mexican President Vicente Fox, speaking with reporters on March 16, played down fears of terrorists crossing the border. "We don't have any evidence or indication that terrorists from al-Qaida or from any other part of the world have come to Mexico in order to enter the United States," Fox said.