The
smuggler was based in Turkey and had links to the jihadist
Islamic State, also known as ISIS, according to a U.S. official
who spoke on condition of anonymity. CNN first reported the
incident.
Record numbers of migrants have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border
illegally since President Joe Biden, a Democrat, took office in
2021, including many from distant nations.
Republicans say Biden encouraged crossings by reversing tougher
policies of former President Donald Trump, a Republican. The
Biden administration argues that it has instituted more humane
policies as migration has challenged countries across the
Western Hemisphere.
Of the nearly 2 million migrants encountered at the U.S.-Mexico
border between October 2022 and July 2023, 216 were on U.S.
watchlists for potential links to terrorism, according to U.S.
government statistics.
U.S. intelligence officials discovered a smuggling network to
bring Uzbeks into the country and a smuggler with ties to a
U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, White House
National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a
statement.
U.S. authorities have no indication that migrants aided by the
smuggling network were tied to extremist groups or plotting
terrorist attacks, Watson said.
Watson did not confirm links to the Islamic State specifically
or that the smuggler was based in Turkey.
Migrants who "fit the profile" of those assisted by the
smugglers are being placed in rapid deportation proceedings and
"thoroughly vetted," Watson said.
The U.S. official said the FBI is trying to locate about 15 of
roughly 120 Uzbek migrants who entered the U.S. through legal
border crossings via the network.
An FBI spokesperson said the agency "has not identified a
specific terrorism plot associated with foreign nationals who
recently entered the United States at the southern border," and
declined to comment on specifics.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered some 3,200 Uzbeks
at U.S borders in fiscal year 2022, up from fewer than 700 a
year earlier.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Additional reporting by
Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; Mica Rosenberg in New York, and
Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City; Editing by Mary Milliken and Andy
Sullivan)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](column_spacer.png)
|
|