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Of great concern is the number of known terrorist cells settled in and organizing from Canada.

The Canada-U.S. border is also a problem, which is, at best, described as "porous".  Alarming information was presented to the Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate on February 10, 2003.

The Canada-U.S. border is more than twice as long as Mexico's border yet there are only 300 border patrol agents compared to 8,000 for our southern neighbors.

Some Canada-U.S. border areas are so poorly staffed between 10pm and the next business day, that the only "deterrents" in place are orange road cones.

Of greater concern is the number of known terrorist cells happily settled in and organizing from Canada.
"In 1998, the CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service - equivalent to the CIA) stated that it had active investigations into 50 terrorist groups and 350 individuals. These include virtually every terrorist group in the world -- including Hezbollah, Hamas, radical Islamic groups from Algeria and Iran, the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, the IRA, Sikh separatists, the Kurdish WorkerÍs Party, Palestinian Force 17, and the Iranian intelligence service."

"Most of the world's terrorist groups have established themselves in Canada, seeking safe haven, setting up operational bases, and attempting to gain access to the USA.... [These groups] follow a familiar pattern of behaviour of ... making fraudulent use of false or valid travel documentation [and] arranging the illegal transit of members to the United States and other countries."10

Two good examples of easy terrorist access from Canada are Ahmed Ressam and Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer. Ressam, an Algerian native, arrived in Canada in 1994 with a French passport under another name. He was later arrested and deported. He then went underground and obtained a Canadian passport using only a Roman Catholic baptism certificate, a common practice in Quebec. He traveled freely in Canada and entered the United States illegally.

Ahmed Ressam, with ties to the Algerian Armed Islamic Group, was caught December 1999 smuggling a huge cache of bombing materials and equipment in his car trunk. Ressam's treasure chest consisted of:

Two 22-ounce (650 ml) jars, each three-quarters full with nitroglycerin

10 plastic bags containing 110 pounds (50 kg) of a white powder identified as urea, a legal substance used to make explosives and fertilizers

Two plastic bags containing about 14 pounds (6.3 kg) of sulfate, used as a desiccant to absorb water

Four small black boxes containing homemade timers -- a circuit board with a Casio watch and a 9-volt battery.

Combine these ingredients with the addition of a detonator and voile! - a very large explosive.
Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer, a Palestinian, claimed Jordanian nationality. He applied for refugee status after arriving in Canada in 1993, which permitted him to remain in that country despite two criminal convictions there. As an asylum applicant, Mezer was also entitled to free legal counsel, welfare payments, and full access to the health care system. Because Canada lacks something like the U.S. Expedited Removal System, which allows quick deportation, an applicant such as Mezer could stay in Canada at government expense for a year or longer. This gave him enough time to try to sneak into the U.S. -- which, as he later admitted, was exactly why he went to Canada in the first place.

Mezer made three attempts to enter the U.S. illegally. The third time was not a charm and he was picked up by the Border Patrol in Bellingham, Washington. INS attempted to remove him but a judge released him on $5,000 bond, in part, because the judge mistakenly believed the State Department had checked its records and found no evidence tying Mezer to terrorism. Mezer moved to Brooklyn to set in motion his plan to bomb a busy New York subway station. His plan was to bomb the "B" line which travels through Jewish sections of Brooklyn to protest Israel's "harsh treatment of the Palestinian people."

A few hours before Mezer, 23, and another man, Lafi Khalil, 22, intended to carry out their attack, police raided the terrorists' apartment, shot and wounded them. In their rundown apartment, police found a photo of a cleric who planned to blow up New York City landmarks and a note threatening violence against U.S. and Jewish targets. Before his conviction in July 1998 and subsequent life imprisonment, Mezer testified that the goal of his suicide attack was to kill as many Jews as possible.11

Additionally, the U.S. is so easily accessed via Canada, that border patrol agents have recently reported an upsurge in Mexicans flying to Canada to illegally enter the U.S. Obviously this would only be the ones with enough capital to afford plane fare, but underscores the need for tighter security.

While Canada and the U.S. work closely and share intelligence regarding illegals and possible terrorists, "the world's largest border" remains very poorly protected.