Ottawa

It’s even worse than Janet Napolitano imagines

It occurs to me that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano might have understated the extent of the problem when she said, “The fact of the matter is that Canada allows people into its country that we do not allow into ours… That’s why you have to have a border, and you have to have border policies that make sense.”

We don’t just let crazy terrorists into out country—we allow them to be born here!

I mean, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan this morning helpfully drew attention to our “homegrown” terrorists, like the recently convicted Momin Khawaja, who was born and raised here.

Thus, tightening up the usual points of entry, airports and such, won’t be sufficient: we must also clamp down on who’s being allowed into Canada through hospital maternity wards.

Come to think of it, didn’t I read that the four suspects arrested last week in that plot to bomb synagogues in New York were all American-born? And, casting my mind back a bit, weren’t the 2005 London bombers native Brits, not immigrants?

So what to do. Maybe what would “make sense” would be to impose onerous, costly border-security restrictions between all nations, until they can sufficiently show that they’ve not only halted the flow of terrorists into their jurisdictions, but also restricted the breeding of terrorists within them.

Looking for more?

Get the Best of Maclean's sent straight to your inbox. Sign up for news, commentary and analysis.
  • By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.