I’ve been neglecting news at our borders this week. As usual, so have most of our politicians. Here’s the weekend round-up:

Feds find weapons cache near Mexican border:

A federal task force seized arsenals of illegal weapons and homemade bombs in Laredo, Texas, in connection with a Mexican drug trafficking battle, authorities said Friday.

The feds captured more than 30 homemade bombs, grenade components, assault weapons, silencers, machine gun assembly kits, bulletproof vests, police scanners and cash, Julie Myers, assistant secretary of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a statement.

Two of the bombs had been completed and others were under assembly, said officials from the task force that involved Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FBI, local authorities and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Authorities said they suspect last month’s three seizures in Laredo are associated with the warring Mexican drug cartels called the Federation and the Gulf Cartel.

Officials said they found the weapons in homes during January 12, 26 and 27 searches.

U.S. authorities have said they increasingly fear violence in Mexico will spill over into the United States…

Will spill over?

U.S. authorities set up toll-free border tunnel hotline

The Department of Homeland Security said Friday it has set up a toll-free number for information about the recent discovery of the longest tunnel ever found under the U.S.-Mexico border.

Investigators are seeking information from anyone who knows about the construction and use of the sophisticated 2,400-foot tunnel that ran from a warehouse near the Tijuana, Mexico airport to another warehouse in San Diego. Agents are also interested in any leads involving other undiscovered cross-border passageways.

The bilingual toll-free tip line started overnight can be reached round-the-clock at 1-877-9TUNNEL.

Dianne Feinstein awakes from a slumber:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein yesterday asked the top U.S. intelligence official whether the U.S. border had become a “major gateway” for terrorists, citing a threefold increase in the number of non-Mexicans apprehended while seeking to illegally enter the United States.

The California Democrat posed the question during a hearing with National Intelligence Director John D. Negroponte and other heads of U.S. intelligence agencies, called to present their annual threat assessments to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

“Last year, Admiral [James] Loy and I discussed border security, particularly the increasing problem of penetration of other-than-Mexicans across our borders … and I said at that time I felt it was a major gateway for terrorists to access the United States,” she said. The retired admiral was the acting head of the Department of Homeland Security at the time.

“Do you have ongoing intelligence efforts to prevent this from happening? And is there any evidence up to this point that it is, in fact, happening?” she asked, noting that the number of apprehended non-Mexican aliens rose from 49,545 in 2003 to 155,000 last year.

Mr. Negroponte said the increase was “an issue that we’re sensitive to,” noting that although the U.S. border with Canada “has to some degree been of a bit greater concern than that with Mexico,” the intelligence community was intent on watching the border “very, very carefully.”

Guess Dianne is okay with that–unless it includes, you know, monitoring the border-crossing terrorists e-mails and international phone calls.

Meanwhile, up north:

The U.S. will use Blackhawk helicopters and planes along the Montana border with Alberta and Saskatchewan to watch for terrorists, drug-runners and illegal immigrants.

The aircraft will be equipped with cutting-edge photographic surveillance and monitoring equipment to watch for any suspicious activity, a spokesman for Montana Republican Senator Conrad Burns said yesterday.

Matt Mackowiak said the beefed-up border security comes in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S.

“(Sept. 11) taught us a lot, and the northern border requires greater security and greater surveillance,” Mackowiak said from Washington, D.C…

What took them so long?

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