A group of Republican senators have written to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas regarding reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arresting eight Tajikistan men who are suspected to have terror ties to ISIS and who crossed the southern border to enter the U.S. last year and this year.
Reportedly, two of these military-aged men crossed the border in spring 2023, and one of them used the “CBP One” telephone app to enter the U.S.
“We are deeply concerned by reports that a wiretap shows that one of the now-arrested individuals was talking about bombs and that the target of the wiretap was previously released by federal authorities at the southern border with a court date of next year. We are further concerned by reports that federal authorities vetting these individuals upon entry into the U.S. did not detect any ties to ISIS at the time and only discovered these ties ‘[l]ater and in recent weeks,'” the senators wrote.
Border Patrol agents have been releasing inadmissible illegal foreign nationals into the country by giving them orders to appear before an immigration judge, but not for many months or even years.
The senators told Mayorkas that just recently FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to Congress that he sees a “potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, akin to the ISIS-K attack we saw at the Russia concert hall a couple weeks ago,” referring to ISIS’ affiliate organization in Afghanistan, ISIS-Khorasan that is blamed for killing at least 133 and wounding more than 100 with a bomb detonated at a concert. Wray also said he is “very concerned’ about “smuggling network” with “overseas facilitators” that “have ISIS ties.”
“Due to the grave nature of these threats to the American public, we request that the Department of Homeland Security brief the undersigned senators or their staff and respond to the following questions by June 25, 2024,” the letter said. The questions that the senators want answers to by Tuesday are:
- What are the names and identities of the arrested individuals?
- When and where did they enter the U.S. and for what purpose? Did they present
themselves at a port of entry or enter between the ports of entry? - Did these arrested individuals claim asylum when they entered the U.S.? If so, how was
their asylum claim resolved? - What was the vetting process for these arrested individuals when they entered the U.S.?
Did the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have information indicating that these
arrested individuals posed a criminal or national security threat when they entered the
U.S.? Did DHS accidentally release them into the U.S.? - Are these arrested individuals members of ISIS or another terrorist organization?
- Are these arrested individuals part of a broader network inside the U.S.?
- Were these arrested individuals planning a terrorist attack or taking actions in preparation
for a terrorist attack? - Do these arrested individuals possess weapons, explosives, or other dangerous items, or
other items that could be used to plan or conduct a terrorist attack?
Leading the letter was Sen. Ted Budd of North Carolina, and signers included Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, John Hoeven of North Dakota, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Mike Lee of Utah, John Thune of South Dakota, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Rick Scott of Florida, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Todd Young of Indiana, Shelley Capito of West Virginia, John Cornyn of Texas, Steve Daines of Montana, Eric Schmitt of Missouri, JD Vance of Ohio, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, and Tim Scott of South Carolina.
