A Republican lawmaker has shared that officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently confirmed the existence of a trafficking ring that works to get illegal immigrants with connections to the Islamic State (ISIS) into the United States.
During an interview on the show “This Week,” hosted by ABC News, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) warned that the Iraq-based terrorist group could launch devastating attacks in the United States. He made the comments in reference to the tragic massacre at a concert hall near Moscow, Russia, that occurred on Friday, March 22.
Rubio explained that ISIS-Khorasan—also known as ISIS-K, and the group which claimed responsibility for the recent terrorist attack—is ultimately “the Afghan-wing of ISIS.” He said that it has “reconstituted itself” since the United States controversially withdrew from its long-held military presence in Afghanistan.
The lawmaker added that this group is to blame for the deaths of 13 American soldiers who were killed during a suicide bombing that took place at the Kabul International Airport in 2021, when the military was abandoning its post. More recently, the group is responsible for an attack in Iran that led to nearly 100 deaths.
After highlighting the previous tragedies launched by ISIS, Rubio emphasized that they would “do it here in the homeland” as well.
He said Americans “should be very concerned” about this possibility, revealing that FBI director Christopher Wray “confirmed to me” that a trafficking network that “specializes in moving people” who have connections to the terrorist group is actively working. He said this ring conducts on a for-profit basis and smuggles people “around the world, including across our southern border.”
Under Biden we have a rebuilt ISIS & a wide open border they can use to do in America what they just did in Moscow pic.twitter.com/cGNFVJGHAJ
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 24, 2024
Because of this reality—and that of the ongoing massive migration taking place at the American border—Rubio pointed out that the United States must be “very vigilant” about preventing terrorists from passing through the border. He added that ISIS is not limiting its attacks to Russia, noting that they “would love” to conduct similar attacks “here in the United States.”
Rubio’s warning that the “open border” policies of the Biden administration could allow terrorists to enter the country comes two weeks after Wray told him during a hearing that the FBI is “very concerned” about certain leaders of smuggling rings that have “ISIS ties.”
Rubio’s conversations with Wray expressing these concerns predated the tragic attack in Russia, which killed more than a hundred people and injured many more. In addition to erratically shooting up the venue with automatic firearms, the gunmen—whom the United States has said to be members of ISIS not sent by Ukraine, as the Russian government has hinted—threw a molotov cocktail and set fire to the venue, the roof of which partially collapsed from the damage.
