The Department of Homeland Security has identified more than 400 migrants who came to the U.S. via a human smuggling network that may have some connection with ISIS, prompting an additional review of those individuals, according to two U.
S. officials. The purpose of the network was to smuggle people, not bring in terrorists, one of the officials said.
But it has ties to the same network that brought a group of Uzbek nationals last summer across the southern border by a facilitator who had ties to ISIS, the official said. CNN was first to report on that incident in 2023. In the latest case, the 400 migrants under scrutiny – mostly from Central Asian nations – are being screened purely because of their connection to the human smuggling network.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters Wednesday that the department hasn’t identified “400 people with potential ISIS ties.” Of those 400 people, a number of them have been detained by immigration authorities, according to the official. But there haven’t been cases identified of anyone threatening the US at this point, the official said.
Vetting is ongoing. NBC News was first to report the figure of 400 migrants. The review comes as U.
S. officials have grown increasingly concerned about migrants from Central Asian nations such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Earlier this month, officials arrest eight Tajik nationals across the country after officials discovered that they had some specific and troubling c.