Over 400 migrants are said to have been recognized by the Department of Homeland Security as having entered the country illegally from Central Asia and other locations.
According to reports, the Department of Homeland Security has identified over 400 migrants who were brought into the country illegally by a network of people smugglers connected to ISIS, originating in Central Asia and other regions. The whereabouts of more than fifty of these refugees remain a mystery.
NBC News was informed by three US authorities that over 150 of the migrants had been taken into custody. Currently, US Customs Enforcement is attempting to detain participants on immigration-related offenses.
An administration official close to President Biden stated, "In this case, we wanted to take extra care because of the information that suggested a potential tie to ISIS given that of some of the individuals involved in [transporting migrants to the border] and out of an abundance of caution make sure that we exercised our authority in an especially expansive and appropriate way to mitigate risk because of such a possible connection being made." NBC News reported.
"It is obviously concerning that the whereabouts were unknown."
The official attested to the fact that ICE began detaining these immigrants some months before. As of right moment, there is no intelligence linking them to a danger to the US nation.
Since none of the 400 migrants were on the government's blacklist for terrorism, Customs and Border Protection allowed many of them to enter the nation when they crossed the southern border. The agency had no information at the time to raise any red flags.
But the terrorist strikes in Russia in recent days have raised further questions about ISIS and its spinoff, ISIS-K. The DHS has been closely monitoring immigrants from nations such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, and Russia where ISIS-K has been active.
According to Christopher O'Leary, a former head of the FBI's counterterrorism branch, "the fact that the whereabouts were unknown is clearly alarming." Currently, he works at The Soufan Group, a security consulting business.
O'Leary said, "I think the [U.S.] is trying very hard to find these people, and using the immigration charges is not unusual." They are not abiding by that legislation. And that's a sensible way to go about it if you need to remove someone off the streets.
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