(Headline USA) The FBI is reportedly searching for dozens of illegal immigrants that were trafficked across the southern border last year by a smuggler with ties to ISIS.
The illegal immigrants came from Uzbekistan and were encountered by Border Patrol agents at an unspecified part of the southern border earlier this year. They were apprehended and immediately claimed asylum, and subjected to a screening against the FBI terror watch list and U.S. criminal databases afterward. There was “no information in any of the intelligence community’s databases that raised any red flags and the people were all released into the U.S. pending a court date,” according to CNN.
However, officials admitted several of the Uzbek nationals have since been placed under investigation for possible criminal threats. At least 15 have been tracked down in the interior of the U.S. and are under FBI watch, the officials added.
It wasn’t until months later that U.S. officials discovered the Uzbek nationals were a part of an underground human smuggling network helping people cross into the U.S. illegally. One of the key members of this network is an individual with connections to the Islam State terrorist group, ISIS.
National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson insisted that the FBI has not identified a specific ISIS plot.
“There was no indication—and remains no indication—that any of the individuals facilitated by this network have a connection to a foreign terrorist organization or are engaged in plotting a terrorist attack in the United States,” Watson said.
But according to CNN, the episode was so alarming that national security officials circulated an urgent classified intelligence report to President Joe Biden’s top Cabinet officials recently.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also tried to downplay the event during a press briefing this week, claiming officials “moved fast and successfully to disrupt” the ISIS-linked network.
"How's it possible that an ISIS sympathizer is sneaking people into this country?"
JEAN-PIERRE: "We moved fast and successfully to disrupt it"
"Are you saying you know where all of the people this ISIS sympathizer snuck into the country are?"
JEAN-PIERRE: Well… pic.twitter.com/blpY3XGBlp
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 29, 2023
