The journey north from Guatemala through Mexico to the Texas border lasted 17 days. Finally, on the evening of Feb. 26, 2006, the young family of four saw the river come into view. Weary and beaten, with the baby starting to fuss, the family was driven in a car right up to the Rio Grande. And there, it stopped in a cloud of dust. George and his wife, Baida, were Iraqi refugees. They … [Read more...] about Breaching America Part V: Out of Iraq: An illegal flight of Chaldean Christians to America
Permanent Collections
Exclusive Report: A Promised Panama Investigation of Iran-Hezbollah for ’94 Plane Bombing Likely Suppressed
On a reporting trip to Panama in December 2018, Bensman checked up on a promised investigation of Iranian-Hezbollah involvement in the 1994 bombing of Las Chiricanas Flight 901, which killed 12 Panamanian Jews. He came home with strong doubts that any such investigation was happening. As published in The Federalist January 23, 2019 See November 9, 2020 … [Read more...] about Exclusive Report: A Promised Panama Investigation of Iran-Hezbollah for ’94 Plane Bombing Likely Suppressed
Video Report: Panama and Costa Rica Doing Smugglers’ Work with “Controlled Flow” Policy
Under a policy known as "controlled flow", the governments of Panama and Costa Rica grease the skids to get them smoothly and safely to Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico, where organized smugglers can take over again, CIS is told. By Todd Bensman as originally published by the Center for Immigration Studies on December 27, 2018 YAVIZA, DARIEN PROVINCE, Panama — Out of an … [Read more...] about Video Report: Panama and Costa Rica Doing Smugglers’ Work with “Controlled Flow” Policy
Interview with an Iranian Migrant in Costa Rica En Route to the U.S. Border
Four Iranian migrants found in Costa Rica en route to the U.S. southern border talk about their long journey, travel methods and hopes for U.S. asylum. But might they be part of Iranian intelligence or worse, Hezbollah operatives? By Todd Bensman as originally published December 20, 2018 by the Center for Immigration Studies GOLFITO, Costa Rica — Iranian citizen Sina Zandi … [Read more...] about Interview with an Iranian Migrant in Costa Rica En Route to the U.S. Border
Four U.S.-Bound Iranian Migrants Underline National Security Concerns about Migration from Special Interest Countries
Maybe they'll achieve their asylum claims. But whatever happens, they're all in for serious interrogations once they reach the American border; At issue for American intelligence personnel who will flock to whatever detention center they're in, of course, will be determining whether they are Iranian intelligence agents, members of Hezbollah's notorious Unit 910, or merely victims of a harsh … [Read more...] about Four U.S.-Bound Iranian Migrants Underline National Security Concerns about Migration from Special Interest Countries
VIDEO Report: How America Uses Bio-metrics to Filter Potential Terrorists in Distant Lands
American homeland security authorities have long been wary about unidentified migrants who emigrate from Muslim-majority countries where Islamist terrorist organizations operate. So the U.S. has provided equipment and training to Panama, Costa Rica and other Central American countries to collect fingerprints, facial-recognition photos and retinal eye scans. By Todd Bensman as originally … [Read more...] about VIDEO Report: How America Uses Bio-metrics to Filter Potential Terrorists in Distant Lands
The Terrorist at City Hall
Mufid Abdulqader was a popular civil engineer. But he sang in a band that called for the destruction of Israel, and the government believes he has secret ties to terrorists. Last summer, his two worlds collided. By Todd Bensman, Special to D Magazine - January 2005 ROOM 305 of the Oak Cliff Municipal Building, an outpost of Dallas City Hall, houses some of the city’s most highly skilled … [Read more...] about The Terrorist at City Hall
Bust: Smuggler moved Pakistanis to border
ICE first learned in March 2014 that Sharafat Khan was running a human smuggling network moving illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan through Latin America to the American border states of Texas and California. Khan ran a global human smuggling network that transported between 25 and 99 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan from Brazil to Texas … [Read more...] about Bust: Smuggler moved Pakistanis to border
Gun running to Mexico
A four-part series tracing the smuggling of guns from American retailers to Mexico's warring drug cartels The story of how several guns bought legally from a Laredo gun dealer ended up at the killing grounds deep in Mexico where narcotics traffickers murdered four Aguascalientes police officers (photo at left) illuminates how and why armaments from American gun store retailers were stocking … [Read more...] about Gun running to Mexico
War of Transnistria; a mean little conflict in former Soviet Moldova (combat footage)
Cossack soldiers in 19th century uniforms, a new "country" called "Transnistria, " the Russian 14th Army firing artillery its commander swore it didn't really fire, and Romania-backed government troops. The bizarre history of this former Soviet republic, and the troubled turn at which I briefly found it in June 1992, has contemporary roots in its World War II past, when Nazi Germany conquered the … [Read more...] about War of Transnistria; a mean little conflict in former Soviet Moldova (combat footage)