(IntegrityTimes.com) – House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green has ordered Department of Homeland Security Secretary Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to hand over documents relating to illegal immigrants vetted at the US border with suspected links to terrorism. The bill issued to Mayorkas on July 12 demands he hand over all relevant communications and documents dating from January 20, 2021. Green claimed that the DHS secretary was reluctant to provide information on how many potential terrorists illegally crossed the US-Mexico border.
The GOP’s demands follow the arrests in June of eight Tajik nationals who entered the country illegally and, following an investigation by the FBI, were found to have links to overseas ISIS targets. Senior US officials weighed up whether to continue surveillance and risk a potential terrorist attack or have Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrest the suspects. The incident raised serious concerns that vetting procedures at the border had failed to flag the suspects’ links to extremism.
In March six intelligence chiefs, including the director of the FBI, warned of “dangerous individuals” crossing the US-Mexico border. In the televised debate with President Joe Biden on June 27, former President Donald Trump accused the incumbent president’s administration of letting in “millions” of migrants, including criminals and terrorists. Progressive critics claimed that Trump’s figures were exaggerated.
A DHS inspector general report found in June that Customs and Border Protection agents lacked sufficient access to federal data required to properly vet foreigners entering the country illegally. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Green first asked Mayorkas to provide the information on border encounters on May 19, 2023. Despite multiple requests since then, the DHS has not submitted satisfactory documentation.
Over 7 million migrants have illegally entered the US since Biden entered the White House, according to CBP’s latest data. Green blasted the Biden administration for presenting hard-working federal law enforcement with a near-impossible challenge by allowing dangerous individuals to enter the US and roam freely. Green likened the task of locating potential terrorists who entered the country illegally to finding a needle in a haystack.
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