Will counterfeit documents enable the next terrorist attack?

(Cartoon by Suad Leija. Suad is the artist, however the political opinions are those of her husband. More cartoons can be seen on her new site, here.)

With the 2008 election in full swing, most of the candidates seem content to dodge the issue of border security.

Tied into another controversial issue, which is illegal immigration, discussing it is probably considered a no-win situation. It's probably likely that no matter what stance they take, it will cost them votes.

Perhaps, the reason it's so controversial is that we are a country of immigrants and most of our ancestors came to this country to seek a better life.

In most cases, what we consider poverty in this country, is a far better standard of living than where they are coming from.

Businesses take advantage of this "cheap labor" (payroll is always a key expense in any business) and because of their illegal status, illegal immigrants don't tend to complain about low wages and no benefits.

Since illegal immigrants are human beings and get sick etc., the taxpayer normally ends up paying for all the social costs associated with their employment. This is a pretty good deal for the employers using this "in-sourced" form of labor.

If you really wanted to solve the illegal immigration problem, it would probably be pretty simple. All you'd have to do is go after the businesses hiring them.

If the process were more transparent, they would probably have to take care of the people, who work for them a little better, also.

The biggest problem with illegal immigration is that all sorts of criminals, and some say, people with political agendas (terrorists) can easily camouflage themselves in the worldwide exodus of people from poor and war-torn countries. The illegal immigration process is controlled by organized criminals, who only care if the person they are bringing in has the money to pay them.

If you think illegal immigration consists of only people from Mexico, this is no longer the case. More and more, they are coming from a lot of different places and illegal immigration is hardly a problem just in the United States.

Whether they are here to find work, commit crimes or plan the next 9/11 -- the first thing someone entering a country illegally needs to do is make themselves appear to be legal. The way they do this is by using counterfeit documents to establish a (seemingly)legitimate identity.

In the hands of terrorists, counterfeit documents are an enabler to murder innocent people because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Given that Atta and the 9/11 crew used counterfeit documents to establish themselves in the U.S., it amazes me that as I write this, the business in them is booming.

The story of Suad Leija has been covered extensively in the mainstream media. Suad is the stepdaughter of one of the prominent leaders of an organized counterfeit document cartel operating throughout North America. Suad met and eventually married an American businessman, with alleged ties to the intelligence community.

The businessman then tried to strike a deal with Suad's family to use their database to identify potential terrorists -- who had been provided counterfeit documents -- in exchange for the release of a prominent member of the family, who had been arrested in Chicago.

The operation took a turn when the cartel refused to provide this information and Suad ended up assisting the authorities in identifying the main players in the cartel, as well as, the scope of their operation throughout the United States.

There have been 38 arrests and the court case is still underway.

Please note that ties to an intelligence operation have not been confirmed by a government source. Nonetheless, if you've followed the story, this is probably a fairly good deduction.

I wouldn't expect the government to confirm, or deny this story. Revealing details about intelligence operations compromises their efforts. This is probably why the intelligence community is and always will be the unsung heroes in the "War against Terror."

Charlie Wilson's War, the Tom Hanks movie, although probably a little "Hollywood" in nature is probably a good example of how a few good intelligence types can make a big difference. True stories, such as this one, normally are only officially confirmed years after the fact.

Just the other day, Newsweek released an update to the Suad story, with more details about the operation.

Joe Contreras (Newsweek) writes:

When federal prosecutors indicted 22 members of the Leija Sánchez counterfeit ID organization in Chicago last April, they described the arrests as "a significant setback" to one of the largest criminal enterprises of its kind ever to operate in the United States. But they made no mention of Suad Leija and the remarkable tale of how her marriage to an undercover American agent and her choice of country over family led to the downfall of the fake-document ring. Suad began cooperating with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in January 2006 and gave investigators the names and addresses of her stepfather's siblings and top lieutenants, who had been photographed while under surveillance by the Feds. Her decision to aid ICE officials, she says, grew out of concern that the fake green cards, driver's licenses and Social Security cards churned out by her family's document mills could be used by terrorists to stage another devastating attack on American soil. "Just as I wouldn't help a drug peddler sell narcotics to kids, there's no way I'd do it for terrorists who want to use fake identification produced by my family," Suad told NEWSWEEK in a phone interview from an undisclosed location. "If another September 11 were to happen and I'd done nothing to stop my family, then I would be just as guilty."

The Newsweek story also points out that these counterfeit documents are hardly being only sold to illegal immigrants, who want them to get a job:

Senior ICE officials also see the booming fraudulent documents business as a bona fide threat to national security. The industry generates annual revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and its primary markets are the estimated 12 to 20 million foreigners living illegally in the United States and teenagers wanting to sneak into a bar. But some of the 9/11 hijackers obtained legitimate ID documents under false pretenses, and a terrorist suspect linked to Al Qaeda named Nabil al-Marabh allegedly produced fake ID documents at his uncle's print shop in Toronto prior to the attacks on New York and Washington. Though the clientele of the Leija Sánchez ring was overwhelmingly Latin American in origin, federal prosecutors say that documents were sold to Algerians, other Arabs and Pakistanis. "That's where the vulnerability is," says James Spero, a deputy assistant director in the ICE office of investigations. "You can buy a set of documents that will make it appear you are legally in the U.S. for as little as $100, and nobody in these organizations does background checks on their customers."

The article ends with the conclusion by Mr. Contreras based on interviews with ICE officials:

ICE agents have arrested 38 members of the Leija Sánchez organization to date, and from his Mexican prison cell Manuel is currently fighting extradition to the U.S. His old business associate Pedro Castorena was flown from Mexico to Denver last month to stand trial later this year on fraud, conspiracy and money-laundering charges, and Suad is expected to testify for the prosecution. But as the decline and fall of Pablo Escobar's Colombian Medellin cartel proved in the 1990s, the decapitation of a criminal organization's leadership will not disrupt the industry as long as there is strong demand for its product. And as of this week, ICE officials reported no decline in the availability of bogus documents on the streets of any major U.S. city.

Not mentioned in the Newsweek article is that the lead ICE agent on this case, Cory Voorhis, was arrested and is being charged with "exceeding his unauthorized access to a federal criminal database."

Voorhis and his legal team contend that he was only exposing plea bargain practices that allowed illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes to not be deported by the Denver DA's office.

Please note the crimes in question are a little more serious than just crossing the border without the right documentation.

Some are comparing this case to another case, which has received a lot more attention in the media. As stated on his legal defense site:

There are troubling parallels with the 2005 prosecution in El Paso, Texas of two Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. Ramos and Compean were convicted of shooting a fleeing drug smuggler primarily on the testimony of the drug smuggler himself, who was granted immunity by the US Attorney. It has since been revealed that the US Attorney knew of the smuggler’s long criminal history yet succeeded in withholding this evidence from the jury.

A news release from his legal defense site stated that this might jeopardize the current prosecution of the Castorena-Leija counterfeit documents cartel.

From the news release:

The federal prosecution of Cory Voorhis, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who is charged in a high-profile case with three federal misdemeanors for allegedly illegally accessing a restricted database, could lead to the dismissal of charges or to drastically reduced charges for the alleged head of the notorious Mexico-based criminal Castorena Family Organization (CFO), some say.

The Suad Leija story isn't over yet and only time will tell what the final outcome will be. The full story of Operation Paper Tiger can be purchased (which includes actual wiretap transcripts) on the Paper Weapons site.

The most recent Newsweek story written by Joe Contreras can be seen in full (recommended), here.

In case you are interested in the Cory Voorhis case, a lot of information can be seen on his legal defense site, here.

Suad has also put up a new site, to further her personal interests once this story comes to a conclusion. Please note that Suad is only 23 years old and hopefully has other things in her life to pursue once this drama is over.

Below is another example of her work, which can be seen on her site (linked above). Please note that she is only the artist and the expressed views of those of her husband.

Counterfeit Document Gang Jefe(s) "Chiefs" charged with murder, racketeering and conspiracy

Recent picture of Suad Leija taken at an undisclosed location. Although not mentioned in many of the articles about this arrest, Suad is responsible for providing a lot of the information used in this latest indictment. Her story has been covered in the mainstream media by Lou Dobbs, Paula Zahn, Fox, CNN, La Opinion and Univision.

Operation Paper Tiger, the federal investigation into the organized trade in counterfeit documents has resulted in the arrest of three of the Jefes (Chiefs) of the largest organized gang (the Castorena Leija-Sanchez organization) involved in the trade.

Also arrested was one of the hit-men associated with the gang. The latest charges include murder, racketeering and conspiracy. These charges have been added to previous charges (already) filed regarding the organized counterfeiting of identification documents by the organization.

All 23 defendants arrested thus far are from the Castorena Leija-Sanchez counterfeit document organization. Three of the people arrested include Manuel Leija-Sanchez, Pedro Leija-Sanchez and Julio Leija Sanchez -- three brothers who allegedly are in control of the organization throughout the United States and Mexico.

There is a lot of evidence that this organized gang, which the government describes as International in nature, is responsible for providing counterfeit documents to ANYONE with the money to buy them. This would include not only millions of illegal immigrants, but a LOT of criminals and potentially, even terrorists.

On Wednesday, the Department of Justice announced the indictment of the three leaders of this cartel in a press release:

Federal racketeering conspiracy and murder-related charges were added against three brothers – now all in custody and charged together for the first time – and their alleged “hitman” in Mexico to a pending indictment resulting from the dismantling in April of an international counterfeit identification document business that allegedly generated profits between $2.5 million and $3 million a year in Chicago’s Little Village Community. Manuel Leija-Sanchez, 40, who was arrested in Mexico last Friday, and his brother, Pedro Leija-Sanchez, 35, who was arrested in Mexico in August, are facing extradition to the United States. Together with a third brother, Julio Leija-Sanchez, 31, who was arrested in Chicago in April, the three are among a total of 23 defendants facing charges in Chicago as part of Operation Paper Tiger, an investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Also facing extradition from Mexico is the alleged hit-man, Gerardo Salazar-Rodriguez, 34, who was charged previously and was arrested in Augustin Mexico, federal law enforcement officials announced today.

Not mentioned in the press release, or most of the news articles, I saw appear on this story is the fact that most of this was made possible by a young woman by the name of Suad Leija.

Suad Leija is the step-daughter of Manuel Leija-Sanchez -- who has been providing information to the authorities about the gang's inner-operations and identifying members -- previously unknown to law enforcement.

The Chicago Tribune (Antonio Olivo) was the one mainstream source, I'm aware of, who refers to Suad's involvement in the case. I've also been told by Suad's husband that she has completed two recent interviews with Univision and was featured on the Minutemen Project the other day.

Suad started providing information on the organization after discovering her husband was trying to gather intelligence on potential terrorists, who the organization had provided with counterfeit documents. This led to her having to make a hard choice, which was whether to side with her family, or her husband. Suad chose her husband after being educated on the dangers this trade poses to the United States.

I would have to speculate that a lot of evidence used to arrest Manuel, Pedro and Julio was obtained as a result of information Suad has provided to the authorities.

If one refers to the Paper Weapons site, it also shows that the earnings of this cartel are a lot higher than $2.5 - 3.0 million allegedly earned by the Chicago cell of the organization. The figure quoted on the site is actually closer to $300 million. This figure includes the earnings of the numerous cells of the organization, which are located in cities throughout the country and operated as franchises.

Suad's story has been well-documented by mainstream media types, such as Lou Dobbs, Paula Zahn, Fox, CNN, Univision and La Raza. She has also produced a series of YouTube videos, which reveal why she decided to educate the public on how counterfeit documents are actually "paper weapons."

Interestingly enough, her story has been covered extensively in the Spanish media. One reason for this might be that pending legislation will force employers to respond to no-match social security numbers. Because of this, legal Hispanic identities will likely be targeted for identity theft purposes. In the past, making up a name was sufficient to pass muster for employment purposes.

Suad and her husband have written a novel describing the full detail of their involvement in Operation Paper Tiger, which is currently only available from the Paper Weapons site. This book reveals what might be at stake if we continue to allow criminals to control our borders.

Included in the book are transcripts from actual wire-taps, many of which, tie into this most recent indictment.

They are currently writing another novel, which will detail Suad's personal story.

Here is my original post, I did on Operation Paper Tiger, which introduces the book:

Operation Paper Tiger - the true story, which reveals why our borders aren't very secure!

I highly recommend it to anyone, who is concerned about our Nation's security.

DOJ press release on the arrest of the Leija-Sanchez brothers, here.

Indictment from Eastern Court of Illinois, here.

ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has a slightly different version of this latest development in the story, here.



(Passport photo -- which are frequently used to make counterfeit documents -- of Pedro Castorena-Ibarra)


(Pedro Leija-Sanchez doing time for another crime under an assumed name)


(Julio Leija-Sanchez)

ICE nails foreign gang members in 19 States

(Map of arrest locations courtesy of the ICE website)

Recently, I wrote about how counterfeit documents enable all kinds of undesirable people to blend into our communities. The point of the article was that these documents are used by more than hard working illegal immigrants seeking a better life for themselves and their families.

ICE issued a press release, which shows how widespread the problem of undesirable people blending into our communities has become.

From the press release:

A comprehensive national law enforcement operation led by federal agents and officers of the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) resulted in the arrest of 1,313 violent street gang members, associates and illegal aliens in 23 cities across 19 states.

Many of these undesirable individuals are involved in narcotics, human smuggling, financial crimes and of course, crimes of a more violent nature.

MS13, which has been written about a lot was one of the targets. Other gangs were targets, also:

In addition to MS-13, targeted gangs included Surenos-13, 18th Street Gang, Latin Kings, Bloods, Crips, and Vatos Locos to name a few.

While this reflect the most recent statistics from ICE, Operation Community Shield in an ongoing operation and when you take a look at the big picture, the statistics are even larger:

During the last 27 months, Operation Community Shield has resulted in the arrest of more than 7,655 members and associates of approximately 700 different gangs and the seizure of 287 firearms. Of those arrested, 107 were gang leaders. Many of those arrested under Operation Community Shield are prosecuted criminally and eventually removed from the United States. To date, 2,444 have been charged criminally, while 5,211 have been charged with immigration violations and processed for removal.

And it seems (finally), ICE is gathering support from local law enforcement, who have been forced to stay away from this activity, mostly because of political mandates. Here is a quote from a Sheriff in Florida:

Collier County, Fla., Sheriff Don Hunter notes that, "Criminal illegal immigrants are committing crimes and victimizing our residents and it is our responsibility to investigate their immigration status thoroughly while investigating their other crimes. We have the resources and tools to do that now. It is part of our mission."

ICE press release, here.

A few days earlier, an extensive ICE operation in California netted a lot more of these undesirable foreign types, including a large number of them eating up tax dollars in local jails. What is amazing -- if you take the time to read this press release, are specific references to arrests of individuals (not only in the jails) --who had previously been convicted of serious crimes.

In other words, when they were picked up, they were running around in our neighborhoods.

Previous press release, here.

Here is the post, I mentioned in the first paragraph, which describes how a lot of these people blend (sneak) into our society:

Operation Paper Tiger - the true story, which reveals why our borders aren't very secure!

America is a land of immigrants, and should continue to be considered that. After all, a lot of us believe that this diversity is what has made this the greatest nation in the world.

Please note that there are a lot of legal immigrants, who earn the right to become citizens, also. We shouldn't be handing over the fruits of our society to anyone, who can sneak over the border. It simply isn't fair to the people, who follow the law and prove they have what it takes to uphold the best interests of our society.

Some of them value the right to be called an American so much that they are serving our country in Iraq and Afghanistan as I write this. By the way, this is nothing new, many citizens of our country have earned their right to be called an American by serving it.

The problem is all the illegal activity, which goes hand-in-hand with illegal immigration, enables a lot of undesirable people to blend into our society. These people are not making our society a better, or a safer place to live.

If we allow this to continue, we risk losing our status as the greatest nation in the world.

We need to remember that "We the People" are what made this nation great.

In closing, I've seen the folks at ICE bashed quite a bit this year for trying to make an impact on a serious problem. There are some of us -- who appreciate the fact that they are doing their jobs, and by doing so -- trying to make this country a safer place to live.

In my opinion, these fine citizens deserve to be commended instead of being picked apart by certain factions in the media.

Operation Paper Tiger - the true story, which reveals why our borders aren't very secure!

(Mohammed Atta of 9/11 infamy used counterfeit documents to get this legitimate Florida Driver's License. Counterfeit documents used to get legitimate ones are known as "feeder documents.")

Border security has become a major concern for all us ever since 9/11 revealed how vulnerable we really are.

Counterfeit documents paved the way for the terrorists in 9/11 to get into our country and cause the terrible event, which has forever changed the way we live.

In 2006, Suad Leija, who was raised as the stepdaughter of the founder of the largest counterfeit documents cartel in the United States began assisting the federal authorities in discovering how widespread this problem has become.

Suad has been able to identity members of the organization, who were previously unknown to law enforcement and provide historical data on the organization dating back to the late eighties.

The story begins with Suad meeting and marrying an American businessman, who runs businesses in Mexico and Central America.

Although, this part of the story still isn't completely clear, her husband turned out to be a little more than a person operating businesses in foreign lands.

Saud discovered her husband was trying to gather intelligence on suspected terrorists the cartel had supplied with counterfeit documents. The information he was interested in was contained in an extensive database of the cartel's business dealings.

Upon this discovery, Suad had to make a hard choice. The choice was between her family, or her husband and the United States.

After her husband described the terrorist threat -- comparing it to the violent drug gangs operating in Mexico, she chose to support him -- and ultimately the United States of America.

There is an excellent description of how this occurred in a La Raza article, which has been translated into English on the Paper Weapons site, here.

I found it interesting that La Raza was covering this story, given their political agenda. La Raza isn't the only Spanish media outlet covering the story, Saud has been featured on La Opinion and Univision, also. This would indicate to me that a lot of Hispanic Americans are worried about the criminal and possible terrorist implications that counterfeit documents pose to all of us.

Eventually, Suad and her husband fled to the United States and this is where Operation Paper Tiger begins.

Operation Paper Tiger documents the federal investigation into the widespread use of counterfeit documents in the United States, which are available to anyone, who can come up with the money to pay for them. It also reveals how these documents, which are produced in large numbers, aren't very expensive, either.

The book introduces a term (Paper Weapons), which might unfamiliar to the general public:

Counterfeit documents are Paper Weapons. The first weapon a terrorist needs to "FIT IN" in the United States is a document. Once he has this weapon and cover he can then go about his business of causing great harm to the United States and its citizens.

Here is a description of the cartel and their scope of operations:

The Castorena Leija-Sanchez crime organization is the major supplier of counterfeit documents/paper weapons in the United States. They are Mexico based and have been operating in the United States for 17 years. They are in every major American city and earn approx.300 million dollars per year. They also deal in narcotics and human smuggling. They are the new silent terrorist. Just about every illegal immigrant has purchased documents or knows some one who has from this organization. This book will go into the history, organization in Mexico and the United States, money laundering, illegal document manufacturing, human smuggling and murder.

Counterfeit documents are easily purchased in most major U.S. cities. Most of us have been led to believe that they are used by illegal immigrants, who are trying to make a better life for themselves.

While this is partially true, these documents are also used by criminals to commit a lot of different crimes and have been used by terrorists to blend into our society. The book is able to substantiate this with factual information from government sources, as well as, information revealed during Operation Paper Tiger.

If you were to consider the criminal activity alone, it would include narcotics, white slavery, and a host of financial crimes. More violent crimes result out of these so-called lesser crimes, also.

In fact, Suad once asked her grandfather if the family would sell documents to terrorists. His reply was chilling, “terrorism is an American problem, not a Mexican one.”

The novel includes actual transcripts of wiretaps, revealing a lot of criminal activity, including a pretty gruesome description of a murder within the cartel.

Also revealed are some amusing blunders made by members of the cartel and how the business of counterfeiting documents is set up much like any other successful organization.

It even shows how inmates in prison are serving their sentences under assumed identities.

Operation Paper Tiger shows how these documents are enabling benefits fraud and points out that most of the people, who immigrate here are poor and need assistance. In other words, it shows how the American taxpayer is picking up the cost for all this.

Benefits fraud is another growing problem. In 2006, Los Angeles was losing an estimated $1.5 billion dollars to benefits fraud.

Also revealed is how the recently defeated amnesty legislation wouldn't have done much to stop the flow of illegal immigrants across our Southern border. Quoting the book, itself:

Border Patrol agents have found fraudulent utility bills -- dating back more than five years, and thus proving residency under the Senate's bill --in the possession of those illegally crossing the border into the United States. Many of the immigrants with the documents had never visited or lived in the country, said one Border Patrol agent who requested anonymity.

This fact is substantiated in the wiretaps, which are available in the book.
Quite simply had this legislation passed, counterfeit documents would have made it easy for just about anyone to qualify as having been here for five, or more years.

Given this, it's possible the bill would have caused a rush to our borders by people seeking to get in on the amnesty provision.

If you are interested in knowing the truth about all the criminal activity, which is hidden in illegal immigration, Operation Paper Tiger is a must read.

Suad has paid a price for revealing this information. Her life has been threatened by the cartel and she is forced to remain in hiding. Since she is hiding with the borders of the United States, one has to assume this cartel has a pretty far reach.

Operation Paper Tiger can be bought directly on the Paper Weapons site, here.

Suad has been interviewed extensively by the mainstream media, including Lou Dobbs, Paula Zahn, Fox, CNN, Univision and La Opinion. Many of these stories are linked to the Paper Weapons site.

She has also produced her own set of YouTube videos, which can also be seen on the site.

I highly recommend reading this novel, which reveals Suad's and the government's efforts to keep us out of harm's way!


Pedro Leija-Sanchez serving time in prison under an assumed name.

Previous posts, where Suad is mentioned can be seen, here.