This story illustrates at least three basic problems with our current approach to immigration and border security. First, it shouldn't need to be said that if a couple of Jamaican robbers can easily wiggle through the tight security provided by Customs and Immigration civil servants, it would be no challenge at all for terrorists funded by, oh, say, Saudi Arabia (not that they do that sort of thing.) Second, continuing to allow criminal behaviour on the part of men like this provokes unfair but inevitable backlash against the majority of Jamaican and visible minority immigrants, the vast majority of whom are not armed and dangerous, or repeat offenders. Third, in a country with limited resources, clowns like this are effectively taking the place of refugees with genuine complaints and/or immigrants with a real contribution to make. Until we get serious about who is allowed to come to this country, and what kind of behaviour we will tolerate, we don't deserve to be taken seriously by either the USA in terms of security or by illegitimate immigrants and refugee claimants.
Posted by Clio at February 14, 2003 02:12 PM