Less than 48 hours after the Arab television network Al Jazeera canceled under pressure the broadcast of a program that investigated weaknesses on America’s southwestern border, two Iraqi men were reportedly caught trying to slip into the country from Mexico yesterday.

Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, there has been a sharp increase in the number of so-called “Other than Mexicans” apprehended in attempts to cross the border illegally. While most such individuals come from Central and South America – with Brazil posting the largest number – there has also been a substantial number of apprehensions of people from Arabic-speaking countries.

Al Jazeera had scheduled a report on the phenomenon, concentrating on the Arizona-Mexico border. The program was to begin with coverage of a Phoenix rally this week by the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a volunteer border-watch group that critics have called vigilantes and whose membership is said to include neo-Nazis.

The event’s Minuteman organizer, Chris Simcox, refused Al Jazeera’s request to attend and said it would help terrorists like those who perpetrated the September 11 attacks to take similar action. He informed Arizona’s congressional delegation, who joined his criticisms of the filming.

The Washington-based Al Jazeera reporter who had planned the show called the public outcry that greeted him “racist.”

“I am a professional journalist. They think bin Laden himself is sending me out there,” the reporter, Nasreddine Hssaini, told Scripps Howard News Service. “I wanted to cover the story from the human point of view.”

Even without Al Jazeera relaying its version of the story, legislators have been warning for years that the southern border is vulnerable and increasingly likely to be manipulated by terrorists.

“I’m worried about our border,” Senator McCain said this spring when he introduced comprehensive immigration legislation. “According to the FBI, an increasing number of these individuals are OTMs [Other Than Mexicans] from countries of interest.”

Ironically, some of America’s post-September 11 measures to increase security may have loosened access to other ports of entry such as the border with Mexico.

“I think generally when the U.S. tightens its procedures in one area, people try to enter in another area,” a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, Deborah Meyers, said. While certain security initiatives – such as the U.S.-Visit program or increased checks on passports – provide the appearance of heightened security, potential illegal immigrants are quick to learn that the Department of Homeland Security is short on detention space.

“The basic story is it’s a mixed bag,” said Ms. Meyers, who released a report this month that evaluated the implementation and impact of border-related changes. “There were definitely some improvements, but there are also some potential weaknesses that might undermine security.”

OTMs, for instance, benefit from a lack of detention space in America and a Mexican system that often will release them immediately if caught.

Of the 44,000 OTMs caught by American agents while crossing the border last year, 30,756 were released on their own recognizance, nearly six times the number in 2002.

According to some reports, in the last nine months, the number of OTMs captured has increased 175% year over year.

CNN reported that the Department of Homeland Security said the two Iraqi men were not on terrorist watch lists.