FBI intensifies investigations into ISIS human trafficking network

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is ramping up investigations into over 12 immigrants within the United States after a human trafficker with ties to ISIS aided them in traveling to the U.S. border and seeking asylum to enter the country, according to a new report.

Adrienne Watson, the spokesperson for the National Security Council, stated on Wednesday that there were "no indications, nor are there now, that any of the individuals facilitated by this network have a connection to a foreign terrorist organization or are plotting a terrorist attack in the United States."

However, CNN reported that the FBI is "closely examining" several of the immigrants as potential criminal threats, citing U.S. officials.

According to the CNN report, immigrants from Uzbekistan had applied for asylum at the border, and there was "no information in any intelligence community databases that raised red flags," so they were released in the U.S. pending a court date.

Subsequently, the FBI identified a human trafficking network that assisted foreigners in traveling to the U.S., including "at least one individual" with ties to ISIS. Watson explained that officials from the Department of Homeland Security began detaining, investigating, and expediting the removal of other immigrants found at the southern border who "fit the profile associated with individuals facilitated by this network."

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed the situation on Wednesday during the White House press briefing.

"Intelligence alerted us to a human trafficking network. We moved quickly and succeeded in disrupting it," she said.

Jean-Pierre asserted that currently "there are no indications that anyone moved by the trafficking network has connections to terrorism."

Just the News has reported that the number of suspected terrorists encountered at the border has reached a historic high.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has not yet informed the House Judiciary Committee about the status or whereabouts of those immigrants found at the border who might have terrorist ties.

Committee members, such as Representative Darrell Issa (R-Cal.), pressed Mayorkas in a hearing in July to reveal the whereabouts of alleged terrorists caught at the border. Issa specifically asked if they had been deported, incarcerated, or released into the interior of the country.

However, Issa's office told Just the News that the committee has not received that information after Mayorkas promised to provide it in the hearing.