Border Insecurity: Two Stories

Below are two stories about those entrusted with our national security. The first story is about corruption in office and the second about naivete at best or infiltration at worst. How serious are the implications? Decide for yourself.

First Story
According to this June 30, 2006 article in the Washington Post, another little problem has arisen at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS):

"A Department of Homeland Security supervisor has been charged with falsifying immigration documents to help Asian immigrants obtain U.S. citizenship, officials said yesterday.

"Robert T. Schofield was arrested Wednesday afternoon at his Fairfax County office, where he is a supervisor for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which processes immigration applications."

For the past decade, Schofield had been in some trouble for his policies in approving immigration applications. These policies predated his employment at DHS. Bribery was involved as well. According to the papers filed last week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, Schofield allowed twenty-three unqualified immigrants to obtain U.S. citizenship.

Just as an aside here, note the word “Asian” in the above excerpt from the Washington Post. In a few stories about crimes in Belgium and the UK, "Asian" has appeared as a euphemism for “Muslim." Maybe "Asian" doesn’t have that meaning in the Washington Post article.

But I digress.

While Shofield was working at INS, Schofield was also investigated for unbecoming conduct and for having an inappropriate relationship with a woman. Those charges don’t sound too bad, but apparently the ruckus was enough for Schofield to flee to East Asia. What did he do there? Retire? Not quite. According to the Washington Post,

"When confronted about that relationship by INS officials, Schofield fled to East Asia, where he made $36,000 worth of unauthorized purchases on his government-issued credit card, according to court documents."

Nevertheless, despite what seems to be a shady past, including making purchases with taxpayers’ funds, Schofield returned to the United States. According to the article,

"It was unclear when Schofield returned to the United States…"

Upon his return—whenever that was—Schofield found employment at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). In 2003, when DHS took over the operations of INS, Schofield became a DHS supervisor, despite some of the problems in his past.

The following provides a few details about the investigation which led to the recent charges:

"Court documents said the investigation began last year when an official in Schofield's office filed a complaint about him with the inspector general. The complaint said that Schofield had personally processed and approved an application from an immigrant not entitled to receive citizenship.

"The probe expanded when several other immigrants, in San Francisco and New York, tried to gain entry to the United States using stamps on their passports indicating that they had permanent legal residence or held a green card. Investigators traced the stamps, which were fraudulently issued, back to Schofield, according to documents.

"Using a cooperating witness and searching immigration application files, authorities determined that Schofield issued hand-typed naturalization certificates to at least 23 immigrants not entitled to receive them, the documents say, adding that Ye, the alleged broker, received nearly $30,000 from one immigrant the pair helped. The documents do not state whether Schofield made money from the alleged arrangement."

As middle-management, Schofield probably didn’t receive a high salary, particularly by the standards here in Northern Virginia. Somehow, I rather suspect that he might have made a bit of money on his criminal activities. After all, most criminal activities result in financial gain, but I suppose that it’s possible that he was approving unqualified applications out of humanitarian reasons.

I know several people who work for DHS. They are fine people. But the actions of which Schofield is now accused may serve to undermine even further the public’s confidence in government agencies. In the past several months, we’ve read many stories about corruption at various levels of our government. Schofield's story is one more to add to the list. Upholding one's oath of office no longer seems as serious a commitment these days.

[Hat-tip to Protect and Defend for the new definition of “Asian”]

Second Story
From Anti-CAIR, comes this story, "Customs & Border Protection Puts on Tour for Terrorist Supporting CAIR". Excerpt:

"On Wednesday, 21 June, the Council on Islamic-American Relations – Chicago (CAIR-Chicago) was taken on a guided tour of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) operations at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport....

"USCBP is interested in 'building relationships' with CAIR, a group that has proven ties to Islamic terrorism, supports Muslim terrorists, that accepts funding from Islamic terrorist supporting country’s and individual’s.

"Why?

"What possible reason could the USCBP have for discussing anything with the very same people who defend those who are trying to kill us and turn our country into another cheap, thuggish, Middle-Eastern Islamist theocracy whose very presence on our planet is an insult to civilization?

"Keep in mind that CAIR defended Omar-Abdel-Rahman, the 'blind sheik' who is currently serving life for planning a series of attacks on New York City. CAIR also ran in to defend Sami Al-Arian, who is currently serving time for helping Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Muslim terrorist group that murdered an American in a suicide bomb attack.

"This group was taken on a walk through the point-of-entry, customs stations, agricultural screening and interview rooms....

"Isn’t that nice of the USCBP?...

"Once again, the rubes have been conned by the Muslim terrorist supporters of CAIR...."

The following is a little review about CAIR:

"Ibrahim Hooper...told the Minneapolis Star Tribune on April 4, 1993: 'I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future.'

"Randall Royer, CAIR's communications specialist and civil rights coordinator, was indicted on charges of conspiring to help Al-Qaeda and the Taliban to battle American troops in Afghanistan. He later pled guilty to lesser firearm-related charges and was sentenced to twenty years in prison.

"Ghassan Elashi, the founder of CAIR's Texas chapter, was convicted in July 2004 along with his four brothers of having illegally shipped computers from their Dallas-area business, InfoCom Corporation, to Libya and Syria, two designated state sponsors of terrorism. In April of 2005, Elashi and two brothers were also convicted of knowingly doing business with Mousa Abu Marzook, a senior Hamas leader and Specially Designated Terrorist. He continues to face charges that he provided more than $12.4 million to Hamas while he was running the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), America's largest Islamic charity.

"Bassem Khafagi, CAIR's community relations director, pleaded guilty in September 2003 to lying on his visa application and for passing bad checks for substantial amounts in early 2001, for which he was deported. Khafagi was also a founding member and president of the Islamic Assembly of North America (IANA), an organization under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for terrorism related activities.

"Rabih Haddad, a CAIR fundraiser, was arrested on terrorism-related charges and deported from the United States due to his subsequent work as executive director of the Global Relief Foundation, a charity he co-founded; in October 2002, GRF was designated by the U.S. Treasury Department for financing Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. According to a CAIR complaint, Homam Albaroudi, a member of CAIR's Michigan chapter and also a founding member and executive director of the IANA also founded the Free Rabih Haddad Committee.

"Siraj Wahhaj, a CAIR advisory board member, was named in 1995 by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White as a possible unindicted co-conspirator in connection with the plot to blow up New York City landmarks led by the blind sheikh, Omar Abdul Rahman.

"Ihsan Bagby, a future CAIR board member, stated in the late 1980s that Muslims' can never be full citizens of this country,' referring to the United States, 'because there is no way we can be fully committed to the institutions and ideologies of this country.'

"Omar Ahmad, CAIR's chairman, announced in July 1998 that 'Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran . . . should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth.'"

Just a bit more review:

"...The Wahhabist Saudi government began its ongoing 'colonization' of the West in earnest after World War II, Palazzi [2003 secretary general of the Italian Muslim Association] said, sending students abroad to study.

"Their mission, he said, was to create what was initially called the Muslim Student Federation, then 'after it became rooted in the country, to start creating the local mosques, local organizations and groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations,' or CAIR.

"Though it claims to represent moderate Muslims, Palazzi calls the Washington, D.C.-based lobby group the 'U.S. section of Hamas.'

"... CAIR is a spin-off of the Islamic Association of Palestine, a group identified by a U.S. intelligence official as a front for Hamas. Awad was the group's public-relations adviser, and CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper also was an employee. Awad praised Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini and at a university forum in 1994 declared, 'I am in support of the Hamas movement.'

"Hamas itself has its roots in the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which al-Qaida was born, noted Palazzi."

Ah, the political correctness of U.S. Customs and Borders Protection, an operation which is supposed to be committed to our national security, and the power of CAIR! Those entrusted with our national security might do well to keep in mind the following information from across The Pond:

"Al-Qaeda sympathisers have been trying to infiltrate the British security service MI5, the BBC has learned.

"Whitehall officials confirmed what some had long suspected, says BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner."

And our elected officials and various government officials might also do well by reading Paul Sperry's Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington. Except from Amazon's review:

"As Americans continue to worship at the altar of cultural diversity and endorse religious tolerance for tolerance sake, Muslims masquerading as 'moderates' have insinuated themselves into the very fabric of American society, taking advantage of our blind trust and gaining footholds in our education system, government, workplace, law enforcement, and military. In this startling book, investigative journalist Paul Sperry uses revealing new interviews and classified documents to courageously explain how, for the past thirty years, these Islamist extremists have been covertly working to destroy our constitutional government and the Judeo-Christian ethics on which our nation was built. Their goal, according to Sperry, is to replace the U.S. Constitution with the Quran and turn America into an Islamic state. And, as Sperry details point-by-point, they have been unwittingly aided in their sinister aims by the politically correct media, government, and citizens, who don't fully understand the dangers of the Muslim faith...."