Maryland Terrorism Ring -- ILLEGALS - BORDER NIGHTMARE

Proving that immigration enforcement is crucial to national security, at least nine of the Middle Easterners recently arrested in Maryland for laundering millions to finance al-Qaida lived in the United States illegally.

A lengthy FBI investigation led to the indictments of dozens of Muslims, many of Pakistani descent, involved in a $5 million money-laundering scheme that financed illegal activities worldwide as well as terrorist organizations.

At least nine of the Muslims arrested are illegal immigrants who tried to bribe a public official to provide them with green cards that would have made them legal U.S. residents. The operation’s ringleader was Pakistani-born Mohammad Riaz Guijar who along with his brother ran a Maryland convenience store.

A federal indictment says that Guijar conspired with dozens of other defendants to pay an individual he believed was an official with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services nearly half a million dollars for residency cards.

This certainly contradicts the nation’s vast pro illegal immigration movement, which consistently paints the portrait of humble and desperate poor people--mostly Hispanic—who present no threat to the country because they seek only a better life and possess a willingness to do jobs that Americans refuse to do.