It is sometimes said that a permeable southern border poses no security threat to the U.S., since those who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally are merely aspiring busboys, waiters, and gardeners. As Virginia Postrel put it, “The tighter southern border has everything to do with anti-Latino sentiment in California and elsewhere, and very little to do with stopping terrorism.” Or as the Wall Street Journal argued, “So [9/11 hijacker Mohammed] Atta got his visa. That’s no reason to kick out Mexican workers.”

Now comes news of Friday’s arrest of Ashraf Ahmed Abdallah at Miami International Airport. Abdallah has been indicted for conspiring to smuggle Middle Easterners into the United States through the U.S.-Mexico border between June 2001 and October 2001.

Specifically, the indictment alleges that Adballah directed migrants to travel to Brazil and other Latin American countries, and from there to Guatemala, the base of the smuggling operation. From there, they would allegedly be transported into Mexico, then into the U.S.

This sort of thing is shockingly common. It shouldn’t really come as a surprise. If Mexican busboys can violate our immigration laws with impunity, so can Islamic terrorists.

Update: Indications that al Qaeda terrorists are hiding out in Central America.