This is all I have and no time today to do a search.  Since the letter is not linked, it may be older news that the reporter at the Washington Free Beacon has just found and wishes to disseminate further.  No matter because it gives me an opportunity to link a story about how Somalis skip around the world and end up on our southern border.

Congress is demanding that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) release documents detailing how many foreigners seeking asylum in the United States have been found to have ties to terror groups, according to a recent letter sent to the agency by leading lawmakers.

The letter comes on the heels of revelations by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that at least 638 aliens seeking asylum in America have been found to have connections to terrorists.

This “recent disclosure regarding the numbers of aliens found to have a ‘credible fear’ in cases where the terrorism bar to asylum eligibility may have applied raised the concern that hundreds of known and suspected aliens with terrorist connections may be attempting to take advantage of our country’s asylum system,” according to the letter, sent by leaders of four House committees on national security, the judiciary, and government reform.

There is more, read it all.

One Somali’s great travel adventures

When I wrote this post, I mentioned the globe-trotting Somalis who pay huge sums of money to get to our southern border.  Reader Leo found this account of one Somali’s travel itinerary.
The first question I have is why didn’t the hero of this improbable tale ask for asylum in the first safe country he entered?  That is the internationally understood method to request asylum.  Instead, obviously with buckets of money, he traveled to the US Southern border.
He is here now, has been granted asylum, and wants to bring the weeping wife and 12 kids to join him!
From The Other Phoenix:
Long sob story you can read yourself, then this:

Hilowle’s wife wept. She told her husband to escape, taking only the $80 and 20 Somali schilling in his pocket. At the time, a dollar was equal 35,000 schillings. Hilowle’s wife told him he had to leave, because if he died then the entire family would lose their financial support.

It took eight days to reach Ethiopia and contact his friends. His father sent him $14,000 from the sale of Hilowle’s house. [He had a house to sell?  But what about wifey?—ed]

Hilowle contacted a human smuggler. For $14,000, he could get a passport and a visa to Italy, but for $7,000 he could get a visa to Cuba, from the smuggler. From Cuba, he could go to the U.S. Hilowle left Ethiopia on Sept. 15, 2009 for Cuba.

He said he flew to Dubai, Moscow, Cuba and finally Ecuador for another $2,000. From Ecuador he traveled to Columbia in the back of a semi-truck with 45 other people.

“I was nearly to die,” he said.

He traveled from Columbia to Panama, where he was detained for three months and learned Spanish.

Next, he traveled through Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala in the backs of commercial trucks.

Once, he thought he would asphyxiate. The entire truck was incredibly hot and the air was stifling. When the two drivers opened the back of the truck, Hilowle told them in Spanish he wouldn’t go back in the truck because he thought he was going to die. They threatened to leave him on the side of the road.

At the border check points the drivers locked Hilowle into a fold-up bunk bed. The room between the bed and the wall was so small Hilowle had to place his elbow against the bottom of the bed so he could breathe.

After enduring four check points, Hilowle refused to get back into the fold up bed. A police officer caught Hilowle, but the truck drivers bribed him, he said. The police officer took the money and offered to drive Hilowle to the border in his car. By the time they reached the border, they were friends. The officer said he too would like to go to America.

Hilowle traveled through Mexico from Guatemala via tourist bus, foot, plane and car. On March 3, 2010, around 5 p.m., Hilowle arrived in the border town of San Luis, Ariz., where he sought political asylum.

American border officials handcuffed Hilowle.

Like many political asylees, he was sent to a federal detention center. He refers to it as a prison.

“They give you food and shelter but no freedom,” Hilowle said. “You can’t adapt to prison.”

On Jan. 31, 2011 Hilowle was released from detention. He was granted refugee status, he said, and Catholic Charities resettled him in Serrano Village.

Surely by now wife and children have joined Hilowle and everyone lives happily ever after (on the US taxpayer)!
We are so gullible.