By Andrew J. Ireland

WASHINGTON – A top U.S. Defense Department analyst under President Bush says ISIS, the Islamic jihadists creating a Muslim caliphate in Iraq and beyond, could use the Mexican border to infiltrate America, and it could happen "sooner rather than later."

At a time when thousands are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally each day, the risks might never be higher, said Michael Maloof, now a senior staff writer for WND and expert on the Middle East.

He said there are risks to the economy and the nation's health. And he warned the Iraq crisis easily could turn into a global issue.

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In the Middle East, the radical jihadists in the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (Greater Syria), or ISIS, have been conquering northern portions of Iraq. They've been executing, crucifying and beheading as they burn through the fragile nation. They now threaten to overthrow the government of Iraq and its neighbors to build a caliphate to use as a launching pad for attacks on the U.S. and its allies.

At the same time, some 1,500 illegal aliens are crossing the Mexico-U.S. border each day and the Obama administration has done little, if anything, to stop the influx.

Putting the two together should raise alarms, he said.

"ISIS may be working to infiltrate" the U.S. with the aid of transnational drug cartels, he said, citing the violent Mexican criminal gang MS-13 as a highly likely candidate for the partnership.

"MS-13 already are in over 1,100 U.S. cities, and, as a consequence, the infiltration capabilities are very, very high and the threat from them can be sooner rather than later," Maloof warned.

If ISIS did smuggle operatives into the U.S. across the U.S.-Mexico border it would almost certainly not be the first time a terrorist group has done so.

Officially recognized by the U.S. government as Special Interest Aliens (SIAs), since the onset of the war on terror WND and other media have reported multiple cases of foreign nationals, including al-Qaida sleeper operatives, being smuggled into the U.S.

Further, in multiple instances the action was said to be aided by MS-13.

As reported by WND in 2005, Paul L. Williams, a former FBI consultant and author of "The al-Qaida Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse," claimed that al-Qaida under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden had delivered nuclear technology into the U.S.

Williams said at that time that former CIA Director George Tenet informed President Bush one month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that at least two suitcase nukes allegedly had reached al-Qaida operatives in the U.S.

Take a look at a real danger to America, in Maloof's book, "A Nation Forsaken.

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Williams claimed al-Qaida would pay the notorious MS-13 street gang between $30,000 and $50,000 for each sleeper agent smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico. The sleepers are also provided with phony identification, most often bogus matricula consular ID cards indistinguishable from Mexico's official ID, which are accepted in the U.S. to open bank accounts and obtain driver's licenses.

At the time, a Border Patrol supervisor anonymously reported that there was a surge in "OTMS" – other than Mexicans – being caught coming into the U.S.

"About one in every 10 that we catch, is from a country like Yemen or Egypt," he said.

According to Border Patrol spokesman Rob Daniels, 10 Egyptians were arrested recently near Douglas, Arizona. Each had paid $7,000 to be brought from Guatemala into Mexico and then across the border, he said.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, hours after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, an anonymous caller led Mexican immigration agents to 41 undocumented Iraqis waiting to cross into the United States.

The Associated Press reported Mexican immigration police detained 13 citizens of Yemen on Sept. 24, 2001, who were reportedly waiting to cross the border into Arizona. The Yemenis were arrested in Agua Prieta, across the border from Douglas. Luis Teran Balaguer, assistant head of immigration in the northern state of Sonora, said, "The evidence indicates that they have nothing to do with terrorist activities."

The Agua Prieta Mexico newspaper, El Ciarin, however, did not agree with Balaguer's assessment. The editor, Jose Noriega Durazo, said on a front-page headline "The Arab terrorists were here!"

Potential terrorists stealing across the border had been predicted well in advance of the World Trade Center disaster. A May 1, 2000, report to the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, the General Accounting Office said: "Alien smuggling is a significant and growing problem. Some are smuggled as part of a criminal or terrorist enterprise that can pose a serious threat to U.S. national security."

Then-Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., the same year, said, "It's almost incredible to recognize, as part of the overall strategy this government is going to employ to deal with the issue of terrorism, that we would not concentrate heavily on securing our borders and try to do everything humanly possible to stop people, who have evil intent, from coming into the United States."

Andrew Ireland is an intern for WND.