More news that radical Islamic terrorists are exploiting the immigration crisis, not only at America’s broken immigration agency, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, but at the borders as well. According to Fox News, “The Department of Homeland Security is alerting Texas authorities to be on the lookout for a suspected member of the Somalia-based Al Shabaab terrorist group who might be attempting to travel to the U.S. through Mexico, a security expert who has seen the memo tells FOXNews.com.” But Al Shabaab members are already in the U.S., according to the 2009 Virginia Terrorism Threat Assessment, I reported from here. It reads in part:

Al-Shabaab is a violent extremist group with a number of individual members linked to al-Qa’ida. Many of its senior leaders are believed to have trained and fought with al-Qa’ida in Afghanistan. The group, linked to individuals engaging in piracy, is also experiencing military victories in various Somali cities. Al-Shabaab also appears to be growing in popularity in the U.S. among some members of the U.S. Somali community. According to a January 29, 2009 report, the Somaliland government arrested 11 U.S. residents who were smuggling anti-aircraft missiles. According to Somaliland government officials, these 11 people allegedly received training from Al-Shabaab in the use of these weapons in the Galgudud region of Somalia.

Domestic Activities

Law enforcement and open source reports suggest that some members of the Somali community in the United States may be leaving to join the jihad in Somalia. The Al-Shabaab movement appears to be using al-Qa’ida Internet tactics to target both Somali and English speaking members of the Somali community. Al-Shabaab members or sympathizers may be engaging in radicalization in areas that have large Somali populations like Minneapolis, Minnesota, Columbus, Ohio, and Seattle, Washington.

Although limited, several previous cases of Americans travelling to Somalia to support extremist efforts include:

• Daniel Moldanado, an American Muslim convert travelled to Somalia in December 2006 and attended training camps. Moldanado was captured in January 2007 by Kenyan forces and returned to the U.S., where he was convicted of receiving training from a foreign terrorist organization.
• Ruben Shumpert, an American Muslim convert from Seattle, fled the U.S. shortly before a sentencing hearing and advised an FBI agent that he was in Somalia. An al-Shabaab web posting indicates that Shumpert was killed in northeastern Somalia.
• Shirwa Ahmed, a Somali-American, is alleged to have been killed in Northern Somalia as a suicide bomber in Northern Somalia in late October 2008.

According to 2000 U.S. Census data, the National Capitol Region has the highest concentration of Somali population in the Commonwealth, representing a potential pool of sympathizers or recruits for Al-Shabaab. While Virginia does not have Somali communities as sizable as those in the Mid-West or Pacific Northwest, Virginia does have religious institutions that work with the federal government to settle recent Somali refugees in the Greater Richmond, Hampton Roads, and Roanoke Valley areas of Virginia. In Virginia, the Office of Refugee & Immigration Services of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond resettles 600 refugees, including Somali families annually and is one of ten U.S. dioceses involved in the “Unaccompanied Minor” program.

Intelligence Gaps
It is expected that as Al-Shabaab continues to gain military and political strength in Somalia, it will become more popular with some in the U.S. Somali communities. The following projections are specific for Virginia, but include regional, national, and international data.

Attack Capability: Unknown – Current intelligence gaps concerning membership, support activity, or pre-incident operations make it impossible to assess the group’s
capability to launch an attack in Virginia within the next three years with confidence.
Membership/Influence: Likely to increase – Recent military successes, including the takeover of the Somali Parliament building, improve the credibility and visibility of Al-Shabaab. Cursory internet searches show a growing number of videos, blogs, and social network activity endorsing Al-Shabaab.
Fundraising Activities: Unknown – Current intelligence gaps make it impossible to assess the current level of Virginia-based financial support for Al-Shabaab.
Other Criminal Activities: Unknown – Current intelligence gaps make it impossible to assess the level of criminal activity, if any, by Al-Shabaab-linked individuals in Virginia.

As Al-Shabaab continues to experience operational success and financial support, the most likely impact for Virginia is the possible radicalization and foreign training of Somali-born subjects for attacks in the horn of Africa. The primary attack threat to Virginia is the potential for Al-Shabaab to inspire homegrown plots in Virginia. A secondary concern is illicit entry through visa fraud by extremists posing as refugees fleeing persecution.

That was from a 2009 assessment. Fast forward to today, 2010, Jana Winter at Fox News is reporting:

Feds Issue Terror Watch for the Texas/Mexico Border

The Department of Homeland Security is alerting Texas authorities to be on the lookout for a suspected member of the Somalia-based Al Shabaab terrorist group who might be attempting to travel to the U.S. through Mexico, a security expert who has seen the memo tells FOXNews.com.

The Department of Homeland Security is alerting Texas authorities to be on the lookout for a suspected member of the Somalia-based Al Shabaab terrorist group who might be attempting to travel to the U.S. through Mexico, a security expert who has seen the memo tells FOXNews.com.

The warning follows an indictment unsealed this month in Texas federal court that accuses a Somali man in Texas of running a “large-scale smuggling enterprise” responsible for bringing hundreds of Somalis from Brazil through South America and eventually across the Mexican border. Many of the illegal immigrants, who court records say were given fake IDs, are alleged to have ties to other now-defunct Somalian terror organizations that have merged with active organizations like Al Shabaab, al-Barakat and Al-Ittihad Al-Islami….
In recent years, American Somalis have been recruited by Al Shabaab to travel to Somalia, where they are often radicalized by more extremist or operational anti-American terror groups, which Al Shabaab supports. The recruiters coming through the Mexican border are the ones who could be the most dangerous, according to law enforcement officials.
Security experts tell FOXNews.com that the influx of hundreds of Somalis over the U.S. border who allegedly have ties to suspected terror cells is evidence of a porous and unsecured border being exploited by groups intent on wrecking deadly havoc on American soil.

The DHS alert was issued to police and sheriff’s deputies in Houston, asking them to keep their eyes open for a Somali man named Mohamed Ali who is believed to be in Mexico preparing to make the illegal crossing into Texas. Officials believe Ali has ties to Al Shabaab, a Somali terrorist organization aligned with Al Qaeda, said Joan Neuhaus Schaan, the homeland security and terrorism fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute, who has seen the alert.

Read it all here.

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3. Terrorists in America
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