More than 400 illegal immigrants have entered the United States through ISIS-connected human smuggling networks.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials told NBC News that 150 individuals have been arrested in connection to the network. The location of 50 individuals remains unknown.
The remaining illegal aliens affiliated with the network are expected to be arrested soon on immigration charges.
One official explained to the outlet that “it was the information that suggested a potential tie to ISIS because of some of the individuals involved in [smuggling migrants to the border] that led us to want to take extra care,” adding, “and out of an abundance of caution make sure that we exercised our authority in the most expansive and appropriate way to mitigate risk because of this potential connection being made.”
Christopher O’Leary, former FBI counterterrorism chief, noted that the “fact that the whereabouts were unknown is clearly alarming.”
He explained that the U.S. is “scrambling to locate these individuals, and using the immigration charges is not uncommon” as the migrants are in “violation of that law. And if you need to take somebody off the street, that’s a good approach to do it.”
The information comes as eight Tajikistan nationals with ties to ISIS were caught by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Joint Terrorism Task Force earlier this month. The arrests occurred in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New York City.
According to Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) data, border patrol agents have encountered almost 1.3 million migrants in FY24YTD.
