Al-Qaida may have an alliance with a violent Central American gang that has established a presence near the Texas-Mexico border, according to members of the U.S. House Select Committee on Homeland Security. Mara Salvatrucha, an El-Salvador-based gang, has met with the terrorist group and may attempt to infiltrate the U.S. border, committee member U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz, D-Texas, said Thursday at the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates. "We have been in contact with El Salvadoran officials and they have verified that al-Qaida has been active in these gangs," Ortiz said. "(The gang members) are all over the place. We know (they) are in the Virginia area and across the border in Matamoros and possibly here."
The committee members' concern has been heightened with the new developments of al-Qaida and Mara Salvatrucha, Ortiz indicated. "This would be a dangerous, new development of international criminal enterprises to expand the (al-Qaida) threat to non-Islamic forces, and it should be examined more fully by law enforcement and intelligence forces," Ortiz said. Ortiz also noted that he has intelligence reports that Middle Easterners have been sighted on the banks of the Rio Grande. "We are not here to alarm the community, but we have a responsibility to protect our homeland and to give those in the front line of defense, which is the Border Patrol and local police department, what they need," Ortiz said.
Turner said: "The truth of the matter is the porous border that we have, particularly our southern border, represents one of the greatest security gaps that we have in this country today in the war on terror. "We have got to recognize the reality and likelihood that terrorist cells are already in our country and are certainly trying to get here. We have got to make the investments in homeland security that are necessary to make this country safe." |