Photo: SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP / Getty Images
According to a report from CNN, government officials are concerned that ISIS is helping to smuggle migrants illegally into the United States across the southern border.
Officials became aware of the problem earlier this year when a group of more than a dozen Uzbek nationals illegally crossed the border and then asked for asylum. The Department of Homeland Security investigated the individuals and found no red flags. They were allowed to enter the United States and given a court date for their asylum hearing.
While processing their asylum request, the FBI learned they were smuggled into the United States with the help of an individual with ties to ISIS.
"Reporting by the U.S. Intelligence Community revealed that one overseas member of the smuggling network had a connection to a foreign terrorist organization," White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement to Fox News. "However, 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."
While the FBI found no evidence of an ISIS plot to sneak terrorists into the country, top intelligence officials took the report seriously and drafted an urgent classified intelligence report that was distributed to members of President Joe Biden's cabinet.
U.S. officials worked with their counterparts in Turkey to arrest the smuggler, along with several other members of the network.
In response to the discovery that ISIS members were helping smuggle migrants to the United States, immigration officials have been reviewing other cases that "fit the profile associated with individuals who were facilitated by this network." In some cases, they found reason to expedite the removal of other migrants detained at the border.