How much of a threat to national security does the border crisis pose? In a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray on criminals entering the United States and the various crimes they are involved in, such as human and drug trafficking and selling fake IDs.
Sen. Rubio began by first asking how many known members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (Train of Aragua, or TdA) have entered the country.
At least two of the individuals who attacked a pair of NYPD officers in February were suspected members, while the brother of Jose Ibarra, the illegal immigrant who killed Laken Riley, is also suspected to have ties to the gang.
Director Wray said he did not know if he could "speak to the specific gang, but certainly, we have had dangerous individuals enter the United States of a variety of sorts," and acknowledged the FBI has seen "a wide array of very dangerous threats that emanate from the border."
However, Sen. Rubio pointed out that local law enforcement agencies are tracking Tren de Aragua members specifically, including the February attackers mentioned above. "There’s no doubt that people that were criminals in their country of origin have crossed that border and are now in the U.S. committing crimes," Rubio commented, which Wray said was "correct."
Additionally, the Florida Senator and FBI Director touched upon the emerging black market for fake green cards and Social Security numbers, which Wray acknowledged existed on the dark web and the street.
More worryingly, however, Rubio asked if any human smuggling networks transporting migrants to the United States from Central Asia and the Middle East could have ties to ISIS or other terrorist organizations.
"I want to be a little bit careful about how far I can go in an open session. But there is a particular network where some of the overseas facilitators of the smuggling network have ISIS ties that we are very concerned about and that we have been spending an enormous amount of effort with our partners to investigate. Exactly what that network is up to is something that is, again, the subject of our current investigation," Wray replied.
Other Florida Republicans have expressed concerns about terrorists crossing the border and waiting to strike, making Wray's response all the more pertinent, as he has previously warned of the dangers coming from the border.
