House GOP seeks answers on arrests of migrant terror suspects
- Four foreign nationals with alleged terror ties were detained in July
- The committee seeks detailed records on suspects by August 27
- GOP blames Biden policies for 'national security catastrophe'
Migrants seeking to enter the United States through a barbed wire fence installed along the Rio Grande are driven away with pepper spray shots by Texas National Guard agents at the border with Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua State, Mexico, on May 13, 2024.
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(NewsNation) — The House Committee on Homeland Security has demanded answers from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray regarding recent arrests of suspected terrorists at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In a letter, committee Chairman Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., cited the detention of three Palestinian nationals and one Turkish national with alleged terrorist ties who crossed into the U.S. illegally in July.
Green called the incidents part of a “systemic problem” in the rise of known or suspected terrorists entering the country. The committee requested several documents by August 27, including:
- Complete alien files and deportation records for the four individuals arrested
- Information from the Terrorist Screening Data Set related to the suspects
- Documents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection databases concerning the arrests
“We are facing more than just a border crisis – this is a full-blown national security catastrophe,” Green said in a statement obtained by NewsNation. He blamed the Biden administration’s border policies for overwhelming Border Patrol agents and making thorough vetting difficult.
The letter also referenced recent arrests of eight Tajikistani nationals with alleged ISIS ties and over 400 migrants linked to an ISIS-affiliated smuggling network.
Committee leaders expressed concern about potential “lone wolf” terrorist attacks and criticized the administration for “dangerously failing to take measures to safeguard U.S. national security.”
In June 2024, President Joe Biden released a series of executive actions capping migrant crossing until border encounters remain consistently low — under 2,500 per day for an entire week — to give Border Patrol more time to handle each migrant’s situation.
The president also clarified his use of executive powers, saying he was doing what Congress would not about a bipartisan immigration deal that failed in the Senate after former President Donald Trump urged GOP lawmakers to vote against it.
Wray previously testified before Congress about concerns that human smuggling operations at the border were bringing in people with possible connections to terror groups.
The Department of Homeland Security and FBI have not yet commented on the committee’s requests.
