Washington, DC—Today, U.S. Representative John Rose led seven Members of Congress in a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas following a report that Uzbek nationals entered the United States with assistance from a smuggler with ISIS ties.
“We see the real-world consequences of President Biden’s and DHS Secretary Mayorkas’ failed open-border policies every day,” said Rep. Rose. “While the President’s decision to allow our border to be overrun by deadly cartels, human smugglers, and sex traffickers is already costing thousands of lives—there is no doubt that a system-wide failure resulting in a deadly terrorist attack could cost thousands more. But it doesn’t have to be this way, especially considering the House-passed Secure Our Borders Act awaits consideration in the Senate and approval from the President. We must do everything in our power to secure our borders and defend our national security, Mr. President, and passing the Secure Our Borders Act is a logical first step.”
According to reporting by CNN, the Uzbek nationals were released by the Biden-led DHS pending a court date. Some Biden Administration officials said this episode is an ‘example of the system working as it should.’ The letter refutes this by saying, “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 goes on to say that it is ‘beyond comprehension’ that Biden Administration officials are publicly concluding to CNN that the individuals who entered the U.S. through the ISIS-connected network are not a threat despite not locating all of the individuals since discovering this connection. It concludes by imploring the federal government to locate the missing individuals immediately while keeping the signers of the letter informed of the status of the search and urging DHS to immediately update its policies to ensure that asylum seekers with connections to ISIS or other terrorist groups are not permitted to enter the United States.
Read the full letter here.
The letter was signed by Reps. Tim Burchett (TN-02), Chuck Fleischmann (TN-03), Pete Stauber (MN-08), Michael Cloud (TX-27), Bill Posey (FL-08), Michael Waltz (FL-06), and Andy Biggs (AZ-05).
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://johnrose.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-rose-leads-house-republicans-demanding-sec-mayorkas-find-dhs-released