Border? What Border?

I read this a minute ago and nearly crapped my pants:

Because OTMs, or "Other Than Mexicans" as the Border Patrol classifies them, must be returned to their country of origin, they cannot be simply sent back across the southern border, as most Mexicans are. Under US law, they must be detained (in the US) pending a deportation hearing. The problem is, immigration detention centers are packed, so most OTMs are given a court summons and told to return in three months. A full 85% don't.

As immigration policy this would be worthy of a skit from Monty Python's Flying Circus. But as homeland security policy this is frakking insane, as former INS officials acknowledged on the record:

What's most disturbing, say immigration experts, is that the increase in OTM apprehensions comes on the heels of the US war on terror.

"We are not protecting Americans against the next terrorist attack," says Michael Cutler, a former special agent with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington. "There are so many holes in the system."

I guess so. And with al Qaeda perpetually on the lookout to forge ties to indigenous gangs and criminal organizations in Latin America, entry into our country for the enemy must look like the world's biggest smorgasbord.

And not just the southern border, either:

[Cutler] points to the OTM loophole as one example. Another is the Visa Waiver Program, which allows residents from 28 countries, including Canada, to enter the US without getting a visa in their home country.

Mr. Cutler believes everyone entering the US, no matter what their country, should have to obtain a visa that documents personal information, the purpose of the visit, and contact information once they arrive. Shoe bomber Richard Reid, for instance, was born and raised in London and boarded a plane for the US with only a passport.

"We are all fixated on his shoes, and now passengers are required to take off their shoes, yet nobody wants to deal with the issue of how he was able to enter the country in the first place," says Cutler.

This l'il ol' voice has been saying it for years: immigration is George W. Bush's achilles heel, both politically and in his GWOT policy. Small wonder that Hillary Clinton is pretending to give a damn about it in order to get to the GOP's right on the issue and burnish substitute national security credentials for 2008.

Smaller wonder still when the next big terrorist attack hits, and we find that the enemy personnel got into the country via the OTM sieve. This one wouldn't be blameable on Dubya's pants-around-the-ankles predecessor. Not by a long shot.

[HT: RealClearPolitics]