Now This Is What I Like To See!

Christian Science Monitor: Security sweeps netting illegals---

LOS ANGELES - In October, three illegal immigrants were arrested at Fort Bragg in North Carolina using false IDs. In August, six Mexican nationals were arrested at Fort Irwin, Calif. In July, six more illegal immigrants were found at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Homestead, Fla.

A division of the Department of Homeland Security has continued to ramp up post-9/11 investigations of what it considers key strategic sites across America: airports, power plants, and military installations. These investigations are routinely turning up so many illegal workers that concern is mounting - from Congress to terror watch-groups - that serious security breaches are possible at some of the most strategic and critical sites in the country.

In the light of such arrests, immigration groups also complain that illegal workers are once again being unfairly singled out as terror risks.

Government officials counter that they are more concerned that if illegal immigrants can so easily and regularly gain access to so many sites, the opening for possible terrorists to do so as well must be wide indeed.

"The main concern in all this is that we are looking for any potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited by terrorists or others with ill intent," says Jamie Zuieback, head spokeswoman for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Washington, the largest investigative arm in Homeland Security. "If we are seeing these egregious violations at our sites of highest strategic value, we need to find out how it is happening and shut it down."