ABC Blotter Report Conflates Illegal Alien Smuggling with Iraqi Refugees

Leave it up to Brian Ross at ABC news to take a report from the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force about the human trafficking of Middle Easterners over the Mexican border and imply that it is a result of the refugee problem stemming from the war in Iraq.

The report was presented at Ross's Blotter Report in an article titled FBI: Iraqis Being Smuggled Across the Rio Grande. (Hat Tip - Debbie Hamilton at Right Truth)

The FBI is investigating an alleged human smuggling operation based in Chaparral, N.M., that agents say is bringing "Iraqis and other Middle Eastern" individuals across the Rio Grande from Mexico.

An FBI intelligence report distributed by the Washington, D.C. Joint Terrorism Task Force, obtained by the Blotter on ABCNews.com, says the illegal ring has been bringing Iraqis across the border illegally for more than a year.

Border Patrol officials in the area said they were unaware of the specifics of the FBI's report, and federal prosecutors in New Mexico told ABCNews.com they had no current cases involving the illegal smuggling of Iraqis.

The FBI report, issued last week, says the smuggling organization "used to smuggle Mexicans, but decided to smuggle Iraqi or other Middle Eastern individuals because it was more lucrative." Each individual would be charged a fee of $20,000 to $25,000, according to the report. (all emphasis mine)

Ross continued to provide details about the operation before he ended the report with the following off topic conclusion.

Until recently, the United States has kept its doors all but shut to the estimated two million refugees fleeing the violence in Iraq. Until this year, the country had taken in fewer than 800 Iraqi refugees, according to the State Department. This May, the Bush administration pledged to resettle 7,000 Iraqi refugees here by the end of the year.

You really don't have to be an investigative genius to see this in the larger context of the war on terror. I haven't seen the FBI report but it seems to me that most Iraqi refugees with that sort of money might find another haven. The chances are that they would have already left Iraq by now in either case.

Had I, or just about any other objective individual written the final paragraph of the report it would likely be in the context of describing how well financed terrorist organizations can easily afford to team up with coyote smugglers in an effort to smuggle terrorists and weapons into the United States. One could have even been a little more focused and tied this report into the failure of the United States government to close our open borders; surely a blockbuster report in light of the recent immigration meltdown in Congress.

Instead we are left with an out of context conclusion about Iraqis that are leaving Iraq for safe haven into the United States via the circuitous route of illegal immigration. This despite a 2005 report in the Washington Post that labeled Iraqis of this means as "Mercedes refugees", a term used for the wealthiest 10% of Iraqis who some thought to be fueling the insurgency. The same kind of people that would like to sneak into the United States and be less than model citizens. A July 7, 2007 WaPo report never mentioned Iraqi's fleeing to Mexico so this is all news to me.

I have all but given up on the old throwbacks in the mainstream media. The dinosaur media establishment has lost sight of journalistic integrity and replaced it with intellectually dishonest activism. The worst part about this whole mess is that many of the front line MSM journalists are role models for a whole new generation of future reporters. What a terrible precedent they set for an industry that can ill afford to be seen as any more biased and corrupt than they already are.

Terry Trippany is the editor at Webloggin