Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas denied NBC News report about 400 migrants linked to an ISIS-affiliated group have entered the U.S. in recent years.
“This report is incorrect,” Mayorkas said Wednesday in Tuscon, Arizona. “We have not identified 400 people with possible links to ISIS.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has labeled more than 400 migrants from Central Asia and others who entered the U.S. three years ago as “subjects of concern” because they were taken in through a human smuggling network linked to ISIS. officials told NBC News.
“And let me, once again, assure you that the individuals identified as having these ties would represent a concern to us from a public safety… security perspective, and would be priorities for detention and removal,” Mayorkas continued.
According to the NBC News report, authorities said more than 150 of the 400 were arrested, but 50 have not yet been located.
Mayorkas’ denial of the NBC report comes as DHS and Mayorkas face criticism from Republicans and even some in his own party over the issue of border security. He was impeached earlier this year through a Republican effort in the House and was accused of failing to pursue “actions to fulfill his legal duty to control the border” in articles of impeachment.
“Alejandro Mayorkas deserves to be impeached, and Congress has a constitutional obligation to do so,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a statement after the impeachment vote.
The Hill reached out to NBC News and DHS.
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