U.S. Congressman John Rose (R-TN-06) is leading a group of U.S. House Republicans demanding that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas keep Congress updated while the government searches for illegal immigrants from Uzbekistan who allegedly crossed the Mexican border into the U.S through a global trafficking network.
This follows the National Security Council (NSC) confirming to Fox News last week that U.S. officials are aware of “a human smuggling network working to facilitate the travel of Uzbekistan nationals to the United States.”
On August 29th, CNN reported that the FBI had not been able to find all of the Uzbekistan nationals who crossed the border with the smuggling network but that they did not pose any harm. The report details that U.S. officials thought that the government responded well to the incident.
Rose along with seven other U.S. Congressman sent a letter to the Biden administration voicing concern about these “deeply distressing” reports and urging President Biden and Secretary Myorkas to not consider this incident a success but to take this threat seriously.
“We write to you today regarding the deeply distressing news that a large number of Uzbek nationals crossed our southern border with assistance from a human smuggler with connections to ISIS and were released by the Biden Administration into the American homeland. We would have hoped that the Biden Administration and the leadership at the Department of Homeland Security would have taken this threat seriously,” the letter says.
The letter continues to comment on the CNN report saying that the Biden Administration’s response to the incident is anything but an example of a “working system” but rather showcases the Biden Administration’s incompetence in securing the border.
“It is not surprising that the Biden Administration would view this incident as a success story. To be clear, allowing the release of any individual into the U.S. only to later find out that they have a clear connection to ISIS is not an example of the ‘system working,’ but is a clear indication of the incompetence of the Biden Administration to secure our border from terrorist threats,” the letter says.
The lawmakers contend that finding and questioning these people is the only way to confirm that the illegal immigrants do not pose a threat, and they ask to be updated on the search’s progress and alerted once everyone has been found.
They also call on Mayorkas to update his department’s rules to “ensure that asylum seekers with connections to ISIS or other terrorist groups are not permitted to enter the U.S.”
Rose says Biden and Mayorkas policies are failing America.
“President Biden’s open border policies are failing the American people. Look no further than the Uzbeck nationals who crossed the southern border with the help of an ISIS-affiliated smuggler. Secretary Mayorkas must answer for this national security failure,” Rose said.
Other cosigners of the letter include Congressmen Tim Burchett (R-TN-02), Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN-03), Pete Stauber (R-MN-08), Michael Cloud (R-TX-27), Bill Posey (R-FL-08), and Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05).
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star, The Star News Network, and The Tennessee Star. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
