The FBI is aware of at least one migrant smuggling operation with ties to the Islamic State terrorist organization, Director Christopher Wray told senators on Monday.
He said he couldn’t go into details in the public hearing with the Senate Intelligence Committee but said the bureau is “very concerned” about the network and has devoted an “enormous amount of effort” to try to figure out what the outfit is trying to do.
“It’s something that’s, again, the subject of our current investigation,” he said.
Mr. Wray said there are no current specific known terrorist plots involving the border, but he said it’s not a far-fetched conspiracy theory, and pointed to the case of Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab, an Iraqi man who was trying to sneak an ISIS hit squad into the U.S. to assassinate former President George W. Bush.
“It only takes a few people who can be responsible for a whole lot of harm,” he said.
Mr. Wray’s comments come as attention to the border and the dangers of millions of people caught and released, and still others sneaking in without ever being caught, are drawing new attention.
Over the last three years a record number of terrorism suspects have been detected sneaking across the southern border, but Mr. Wray, prodded by GOP senators, said the scarier issue is how many made it in undetected or not properly vetted.
“The national security ramifications of the issues at the border are better reflected in some ways more by what we don’t know about the people who snuck in, provided fake documents, or in some other way got in when there wasn’t sufficient information available at the time they came in to connect the dots,” he said.
Mr. Wray was appearing as part of a global threats hearing, testifying alongside officials from the State Department and the major intelligence agencies.
Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, prodded Mr. Wray on Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang that has been linked to suspects accused of beating New York City police and to the brother of the man accused of slaying Laken Riley in Georgia.
Mr. Wray said he couldn’t speak to that specific gang, but said people who were criminals in their own countries are making their way into the U.S.
Democrats at the hearing said Mr. Wray’s warnings should prompt Congress to pass the border deal the White House negotiated with a small group of senators. The bill was derailed by a bipartisan filibuster, but Democrats blamed former President Donald Trump.
“This legislation was endorsed by the Border Patrol union, and it had strong bipartisan support until it didn’t,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, Arizona Democrat.
That prompted pushback from Sen. James Risch, Idaho Republican, who said Mr. Trump turned over a secure border, achieved using the laws already on the books.
“When the current president came in, we all know he took the policies of the former president, tore them up and rescinded them, and now we have what we have,” he said.
He also challenged the notion that Mr. Trump sank the bill.
“He never called me,” Mr. Risch said. “But I can tell you this. I will not vote for any bill that allows any illegals to cross into this country. And everybody here knows that bill would have allowed 5,000 a day to come into this country. That’s not for me.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.