[NY Post] Too busy going after Trump, Parents who protest school boards, and radical traditional Catholics...The FBI is reportedly scrambling to find more than a dozen Uzbek nationals who sought asylum in the US earlier this year after intelligence officers discovered they traveled to the southern border with the help of a smuggler who has ties to ISIS.
Officials are working to "identify and assess" all of the individuals who gained entry into the country, National Security Council spokesman Adrienne Watson told CNN.
They are also scrutinizing a number of migrants as possible criminal threats, two unnamed federal officials told the news network. But authorities say no specific ISIS plot has been identified.
"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," Watson stressed.
Migrants are pictured at the southern border with Mexico.More than a dozen Uzbek migrants gained entry to the United States from the southern border earlier this year.New York Post
a federal agent
Nothing in any of the intelligence community’s databases raised any red flags, CNN reported, and they were all released into the US pending a court appearance.
It was only later that the FBI learned of a smuggling network helping Uzbeks into the US — which involved at least one individual with ties to ISIS.
Migrants turn themselves in for processing after crossing the U.S.-Mexico Border at the Rio Grande River on Tuesday, May 9, 2023 in El Paso, Texas. Officials are also scrutinizing a number of migrants as possible criminal threats, according to two unnamed federal officials. New York Post
The bureau began a nationwide search for the migrants, and also worked with Turkish authorities, who apprehended the smuggler and other members of the network, the report said.
It has since received more information from that unnamed smuggler to aid in the bureau’s investigation, officials said.
Ever since, Homeland Security has been detaining, vetting, and ultimately expediting the deportation of migrants who "fit the profile associated with individuals who were facilitated by this network," Watson said.