The Biden administration’s open border policies are being criticized by a growing number of lawmakers and national security officials for creating opportunities for dangerous people to enter the United States. FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in March that there have been cases of individuals with ties to criminal organizations like the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua entering the country.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) questioned Wray on whether they were aware of any smuggling networks being run or conducted by people with ties to ISIS or other terrorist organizations. While Wray was cautious in his response, he acknowledged that there is a particular network where overseas facilitators have ISIS ties that the FBI is investigating.
Rubio further emphasized the threat posed by terrorists entering the United States and remaining undetected in an op-ed on FoxNews.com. He cited an example of an Afghan immigrant, Mohammad Kharwin, who was suspected to be a member of a terrorist organization but was not detained after crossing the border illegally in March 2023 due to unverified identity. It took law enforcement 13 months to confirm his presence on the FBI’s watch list and arrest him.
Rubio argued that these cases are just a fraction of the threat posed by terrorists entering the country under Biden’s lax border policies, which have resulted in more than 9 million encounters with people who have entered the United States illegally since January 2021, with virtually none being detained or expelled.
