GOP lawmaker: Hezbollah coming across border from Mexico

In a recent debate, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said that most undocumented immigrants are coming to the US to bring drugs.

NBC’s David Gregory asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) Sunday if he agreed.

“No,” McCain said. “I think that thereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a large number, and I think she’s right in that the drug cartel’s movement has dramatically increased. Twenty-three thousand Mexicans have been killed in the last three years in Mexico.”

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In the wake of Arizona’s controversial law allowing police to stop and demand ID from anyone they suspect is an illegal immigrant, many supporters have been casting the issue as one of national security.

During a debate with political opponent Matt Jette, Gov. Brewer said that the “majority” of undocumented immigrants “are not coming here to work. They are coming here and theyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re bringing drugs. And theyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re doing drop houses and theyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re extorting people and theyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re terrorizing the families. That is the truth, Matt. That is the truth.”

Meanwhile, North Carolina Republican House Rep. Sue Myrick sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declaring that members of the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah are crossing the border from Mexico into the United States.

Myrick said Hezbollah may be planning “Israel-like car bombings of Mexican/USA border personnel or National Guard units,” TalkingPointsMemo’s Justin Elliott reports.

While Myrick did not appear to have evidence of this, she attributed her belief to several factors, among them the presence of Farsi-language tattoos on gang members in US prisons, and the fact that the US-Mexican border geographically resembles the area around Israel and the Palestinian territories.

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“Well trained officials are beginning to notice the tattoos of gang members in prisons are being written in Farsi. We have typically seen tattoos in Arabic, but Farsi implies a Persian influence that can likely be traced back to Iran and its proxy army, Hezbollah,” Myrick wrote.

Hezbollah is a Lebanese-based organization, and its membership consists mostly of Arabic speakers, not Farsi speakers.

“Former intelligence officials have pointed to the terrain that makes up our border, especially in the San Diego border sector, as a reason why drug cartels have been partnering with Hezbollah,” she wrote. She cited “intelligence officials” as saying that “the drug cartels, in an effort to dig larger and more effective tunnels, are employing the expertise of Hezbollah.”

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The Abilene Reporter-News reports that, of 125 people apprehended at the US-Mexico border through the year ending in April, 2010, two were Syrian, seven Sudanese, and 17 were Iranian.

This video is from NBC’s Meet the Press, broadcast June 27, 2010.

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