ISIS-affiliated network smuggled over 400 illegal aliens into the US: DHS

More than 400 illegal aliens were smuggled into the United States by an ISIS-affiliated network, and many were released by the Biden administration’s Customs and Border Protection, according to a recent report from NBC News.

U.S. officials told the news outlet that the Department of Homeland Security identified hundreds of illegal foreign nationals from Central Asia and elsewhere who were unlawfully brought into the country by a smuggling group linked to ISIS.

'Scrambling to locate these individuals.'

Many of the 400 individuals were detained by CBP after illegally crossing the southern border and subsequently released into the interior of the country after they did not appear on the government’s terrorism watch list, officials told NBC News. More than 150 individuals have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Some of those individuals were previously deported, officials said.

The whereabouts of 50 “subjects of concern” remain unknown, the news outlet reported.

Former FBI counterterrorism section chief Christopher O’Leary told NBC News, “The fact that the whereabouts were unknown is clearly alarming.”

“I believe the [U.S.] is scrambling to locate these individuals, and using the immigration charges is not uncommon,” O’Leary stated. “They are in violation of that law. And if you need to take somebody off the street, that’s a good approach to do it.”

A senior Biden administration official told NBC News, “In this case, 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.”

“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,” the official stated.

The official noted that no information has emerged tying the illegal immigrants to any national security threats. Some of the “subjects of concern” have been charged with immigration violations; none have received terrorism-related charges.

Recent terrorist attacks in Russia have prompted the DHS to “look[] more closely” at foreign nationals from countries where ISIS has been active, NBC News reported.

A June report from the DHS’ Office of Inspector General found that ICE released more than 11,000 “high flight risk” illegal aliens into the U.S. from fiscal year 2022 through 2023, Blaze News previously reported. Over 300 of those individuals were considered to be a “high risk to public safety.”

Another recent report from the inspector general revealed that the DHS’ vetting procedures for illegal immigrants need improvement and “were not fully effective to screen and vet noncitizens applying for admission into the United States or asylum seekers whose asylum applications were pending for an extended period.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!