United States authorities captured eleven men believed to belong to a terrorist, Anti-American group. The men, nine of whom are United States citizens, are believed to be part of an extremist Muslim organization, Lashkar-e-Taiba, sometimes called Lashkar-e-Tayyiba. The primary goal of this organization, which is named on the State Department’s list of terror organizations, is to drive India out of the Kashmir territory.

Six of the suspects were taken into custody in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, while two others were already in custody. Three of the men are believed to be in Saudi Arabia. The eleven men were charged in a 41-count federal indictment with conspiring to “prepare for and engage in a violent jihad” against targets in the Philippines, Chechnya and Kashmir. Authorities claim that the men were inspired to violence by a cleric while meeting at an Islamic center in suburban Washington.

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A trial for members of an Arivaca-based border watch group charged with conspiracy to smuggle illegal border crossers has been delayed.  A federal indictment was filed October 2002 and alleged that two Border Watch members and a Mexican national entered into a smuggling conspiracy from early September to October 2002.

On the day Border Patrol agents stopped Palmanita Fleming, a Border Watch member charged with conspiracy, Fleming told the agents that she picked the illegal border crossers up for humanitarian reasons.  Several of the illegal crossers told agents later that day, however, that Fleming told them to get into her vehicle and lie down and cover up so that the U.S. Border Patrol would not see them. 

Another Border Watch member was stopped the same day with four illegal entrants in his car.  Pedro Jesus Armenta-Vega told investigators he had worked for a month for Miguel Angel Guzman, president and founder of Border Watch, transporting 22 illegal border crossers for a fee of about $200 each.  He also claimed Fleming was a driver for Guzman.

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Cuban hijackers have recently stepped up efforts to get to the United States.  In recent months, Cuban planes and ferries have been hijacked and brought to the United States.  Under American immigration law, Cubans who reach U.S. soil are usually allowed to stay.

A federal case currently on the docket charges Adermis Wilson Gonzalez with hijacking a Cuban airplane to the United States with bogus grenades three months ago.  The plane departed March 31 from Cuba’s southern coast for a thirty-minute flight to Havana.  Toward the end of the flight, Gonzalez jumped from his seat, waved ceramic grenades, and demanded to be taken to Florida.  The plane did not have enough fuel, and landed in Havana instead.  Gonzalez negotiated with Fidel Castro and American diplomat James Cason, but to no avail.  The plane sat in Havana for 12 hours before Gonzalez forced the pilot to take off for Florida.  When the plane landed, Gonzalez was taken into custody.

U.S. officials hope that the trial will deter further Cuban hijackers. 

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Two members of a human-smuggling ring pleaded not guilty to charges relating to the deaths of 19 of more than 70 illegal immigrants who were packed in the trailer of a 19-wheeler.  They died of suffocation, dehydration, and hyperthermia.  Fourteen people have been indicted on charges linking them to the smuggling ring.

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The United States Coast Guard spotted and returned 146 Haitian migrants on a boat last Wednesday, and 319 Haitian migrants on a vessel last Thursday.  Both boats were off the coast of the Bahamas.  It is United States policy to return migrants found at sea after brief interviews by immigration officials on the boat.