IN THE NORTHWEST: CONGRESS MUST ACT TO PLUG POROUS CANADIAN BORDER

BELLINGHAM -- During his years as deputy chief U.S. Border Patrol agent in
Blaine, Gene Davis had the unenviable job of explaining government
priorities that on their face were absurd.

Davis would detail emerging threats along the U.S.-Canada border --
"snakeheads" bringing in illegals from China, apprehension of potential
terrorists, the blossoming of "B.C. Bud" marijuana smuggling by organized
criminal rings -- and then report that more of his agents had been
transferred to the Mexican border.

Behind Davis' diplomatic words I could hear the grinding of teeth.
Nowadays, as homeland security takes center stage in the United States, the
25-year border veteran is retired and can speak his mind.

Problems at America's northern border have been "deliberately ignored" by
the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Davis said. "It's not only
sleeping: It has kept up a charade that the only real problem is at the
southern border."

"Once you get past the U.S. border, you are home free. There is virtually
no interior enforcement in this country against people who are illegally
here," Davis added.

If you doubt Davis, consider the case of a Palestinian and would-be
terrorist named Abu Mezer.

Mezer arrived in Canada eight years ago on a student visa. Shortly after
coming to Toronto, he applied for refugee status, claiming persecution in
Israel, which allowed him to remain in Canada despite two criminal
convictions. He also applied for a U.S. visa, but was denied.

In June 1996, a hypothermic Mezer and one other man were caught illegally
crossing the border in a remote part of the North Cascades National Park.
"He had no criminal record, we couldn't hold him, so we kicked him back to
Canada," Davis said.

Six days later, Mezer was caught again, jogging through Peace Arch Park
that straddles the border. He was kicked back to Canada once more. In
January of 1997, Mezer was apprehended a third time, boarding a bus in
Bellingham with two other men of Middle East origin.

The Canadians wouldn't take him this time, so Mezer was locked up on
$15,000 bond while deportation proceedings commenced. "One of our agents
was strongly suspicious, and sent a file on his case to the FBI," Davis said.

In the meantime, Mezer requested political asylum: His bail was lowered to
$5,000. He was bailed out -- the money put up by somebody else who was
illegally in the United States -- and disappeared.

On July 31, 1997, police burst into a Brooklyn apartment: They found Mezer
and another illegal putting together bombs for an attack on New York's
subway system.

A subsequent report by the Inspector General's office of the Justice
Department detailed what Davis had been talking about for years, and what
the INS would not hear:

"His easy entry into Canada and his ability to remain in the Canada despite
at least two criminal convictions and repeated attempts to enter the United
States illegally highlight the difficult in controlling illegal immigration
into the U.S."

"Mezer's case also reveals the shortage of Border Patrol resources
available along the northwest border to halt illegal immigration. In light
of how few Border Patrol agents are assigned to guard this section of the
border on a regular basis, we found it surprising that Mezer was caught
once, let alone three times, trying to enter the U.S."

Or, as Davis asked, "If we caught him three times, how many times didn't we
catch him?"

The plugging of our porous northern border is a years-long task, one that
goes far beyond just beating up on bureaucracy.

Of course, more Border Patrol staffing is needed. Our lawmakers can't just
put this in the form of a polite request. Congress must specify that money
go for additional agents at this border.

If inertia rules Canada's federal immigration policy, common cause can be
made with the clear-headed premiers of British Columbia and Ontario, who
are clamoring for construction of a North American security perimeter.

Agencies need to cooperate. "The FBI never acknowledged it got a copy of
the report (on Abu Mezer), and there was no follow-up," Davis said.

Subsequently, a federal program on drug corridors was tapped to equip an
interagency intelligence center at Blaine, the idea being that data would
be evaluated close to border crossings. "But none of the agencies wanted to
put analysts there to staff it," Davis observed

Driving up Chuckanut Drive, with the San Juan Islands in view, the "fourth
corner" of America still seems an idyllic, sleepy backwater. Twenty-five
miles away, however, 25 million people cross the U.S.- Canada border each
year in Whatcom County.

After listening to Davis, Bellingham attorney Drew Pettus -- who worked on
border issues for 15 years as a congressional aide -- spoke his mind.

"Federal agencies are chary to assert their own beliefs," Pettus said.
"Blame the Congress. It is Congress that has given low priority to
immigration issues. Congress decided the main problem was on the southern
border. That's where all the noise was coming from. And that's where any
real effort to deal with this situation has got to originate."