Seven that we know of because we caught one Al-Qaeda affiliated human smuggler. Open borders will lead to disaster soon. From KRGV:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Texas Department of Public Safety chief Steve McCraw testified before lawmakers in Washington on Wednesday.

He says the majority of people from terrorist sponsored countries are getting into the U.S. along the Texas border.

He pointed to Ahmed Muhammad Dhakane as one of those terrorists.

He asked for asylum at an international crossing in Brownsville in 2008. Halfway through the request, Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents took a closer look at him. They say he was an Al Qaeda terrorist and human smuggler. Dhakane admits to smuggling seven members of Al Qaeda into the U.S.

He’s been sentenced to 10 years behind bars for lying on his asylum application.

“The San Antonio federal case of the Somalian is a significant concern. It underscores this is not make believe, you can’t secure your borders from foreign nationals penetrating them undetected and uninterdicted. It constitutes a threat,” says McCraw.

An understatement. Political correctness and business interest who love cheap labor from a de facto slave class will be responsible for the next terror attack in America. Here’s a video report.

Ready for that fence yet? Hezbollah has long been active and South and Central America but as this local San Diego news outfit reports the terror group now has permanent bases in Tijuana and Durango as well as several other border areas. An agent who spent several years in deep cover in Mexico reports that Hezbollah enjoys protection and funding from Mexican cartels (though no one is sure which ones) in return for Hezbollah training cartel soldiers. Hezbollah is also recruiting among the growing Shia Muslim population on the border:

SAN DIEGO — A terrorist organization whose home base is in the Middle East has established another home base across the border in Mexico.

“They are recognized by many experts as the ‘A’ team of Muslim terrorist organizations,” a former U.S. intelligence agent told 10News.

The former agent, referring to Shi’a Muslim terrorist group Hezbollah, added, “They certainly have had successes in big-ticket bombings.”

Some of the group’s bombings include the U.S. embassy in Beirut and Israeli embassy in Argentina.

However, the group is now active much closer to San Diego.

[…]

Hezbolah has operated in South America for decades and then Central America, along with their sometime rival, sometime ally Hamas.

Now, the group is blending into Shi’a Muslim communities in Mexico, including Tijuana. Other pockets along the U.S.-Mexico border region remain largely unidentified as U.S. intelligence agencies are focused on the drug trade.

“They have had clandestine training in how to live in foreign hostile territories,” the agent said.

The agent, who has spent years deep undercover in Mexico, said Hezbollah is partnering with drug organizations, but which ones is not clear at this time.

He told 10News the group receives cartel cash and protection in exchange for Hezbollah expertise.

“From money laundering to firearms training and explosives training,” the agent said.

For example, he tracked, along with Mexican intelligence, two Hezbollah operatives in safe houses in Tijuana and Durango

“I confirmed the participation of cartel members as well as other Hezbollah individuals living and operating out of there,” he said.

Tunnels the cartels have built that cross from Mexico into the U.S. have grown increasingly sophisticated. It is a learned skill, the agent said points to Hezbollah’s involvement.

“Where are the knowledgeable tunnel builders? Certainly in the Middle East,” he said.

Why have Americans not heard more about Hezbollah’s activities happening so close to the border?

“If they really wanted to start blowing stuff up, they could do it,” the agent said.

According to the agent, the organization sees the U.S. as their “cash cow,” with illegal drug and immigration operations. Many senior Hezbollah leaders are wealthy businessmen, the agent said.

“The money they are sending back to Lebanon is too important right now to jeopardize those operations,” he said.

Looks like drugs really do fund terrorism. This is a growing problem, and the Border Patrol and citizen militias that are trying to keep law and order in that area are going to be out-manned and out-gunned if Hezbollah decides to get involved. There’s a video report at the link.

h/t N.T.A.

Cartels have had FOBs in Arizona for some time now so this is not surprising. It is an escalation though leading up to perhaps open conflict between Border patrol and Cartel forces. From KVOA:

In this Crime Trackers investigation, Lupita Murillo and photographer Kean Bauman were given unprecedented access to a special camp along the US/Mexico border.

As more manpower and resources are dedicated to protect the border, agents are setting up camps that take them closer to the action. They’re called Forward Operating Camps.

These agents are stationed in rural areas known as “hot spots” to respond quickly.

In this Crime Trackers investigation, you’ll see agents in action, and the remoteness of where they work.
In rugged terrain in the harsh Southern Arizona desert, Border Patrol agents quickly move to find illegal activity.

Agent Jorge Sanchez says, “The scope operator had a visual of large back packs, that’s what we saw.”

We’re in an undisclosed location to protect the agents who sign up for the extra duty– they’re here a week at a time in this Forward Operating Camp. The camp is self contained, powered by generators.

Agent Brian Irving says, “To have a remote camp set out here for the traffic that crosses is very important.”
Important because it cuts down the driving time agents have to go through to get here.

Agent Jason Rheinfrank says, “Agents can respond before a lot of this illegal activity gets north and they load up into a vehicle and make their way up to Tucson and Phoenix.”

This assignment is equally dangerous.

Agent Irving says, “I’ve come across an armed group, it wasn’t out here at this camp it was at a different location.”

Agent Sanchez says, “You never know if they are armed they could have rifles or guns with them.”

This is probably partially driven by high gas prices making the old model of driving hundreds of miles a day impossible, but it’s also a sign that the Border Patrol is taking the war on the border more seriously and adjusting their tactics from a law enforcement stance to a more militarized stance.

I guess Jihadists in Mexico are influencing the cartels in more ways than we know:

Five people suffered varying degrees of injuries when a car bomb exploded outside a police station in Ciudad Victoria, capital of the violence-wracked northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

A source with that state’s Attorney General’s Office, who spoke on condition on anonymity, said the parked vehicle exploded shortly after 3:00 p.m. Tuesday at a spot some 30 meters (100 feet) from the station.

No organization has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which also damaged two nearby patrol cars.

“We have information that five people were injured in the attack, but we don’t know if they were police or pedestrians,” the source said.

Federal forces were deployed to the police station after the explosion and they cordoned off the crowded area.

Last year, car bombs were detonated in Tamaulipas outside the state Public Safety complex in Ciudad Victoria, offices of media giant Televisa and a municipal transit office.

Borderland Beat has video.