There’s a new report quoting a Honduras homeland security official blowing the whistle on al Qaeda recruitment of Central American gang members, who can easily slip through our southern border. Oscar Alvarez’s critics say he’s concocting the threat to justify tough crackdowns on gangs and smugglers.

But as the article notes:

A spokesman for Mexico’s National Immigration Institute said officials have caught “a significant number” of people from the Middle East trying to sneak into the United States from Mexico.

There has been at least one confirmed report of a terror suspect in Central America. U.S. and Panamanian officials say Saudi native and possible al-Qaida leader Adnan G. El Shukrijumah stayed in Panama for 10 days in April 2001.

In May, in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, two witnesses said they saw El Shukrijumah, sparking rumors he was recruiting gang members…

More on the South American terror connection here.