Grassley Seeks Answers as Reports of Border Weaknesses, Terrorist Activity Mount

More than 30,000 Southwestern Border Crossers Originated in ‘Countries of Terrorist Concern’

WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is calling on the Department of Homeland Security to respond to media reports of terrorist groups operating in Mexico seeking to exploit weaknesses along the U.S. Southern border. 

One report includes a leaked U.S. Southern Command intelligence analysis warning that “special interest aliens” are working with known Latin American smuggling networks to infiltrate the United States.  

A spokesperson for Southern Command estimated that more than 30,000 individuals who crossed the southwestern border in 2015 were originally from countries of terrorist concern, which includes the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, the Middle East and Eastern Africa.  Southern Command had previously expressed concern about the ease with which terrorists could “walk” across the Southern border into the United States using established drug and human trafficking routes.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Grassley is asking whether immigration officials were aware of the Southern Command’s intelligence report and whether the department concurs with its assessment.

Grassley has previously expressed concern about increased levels of human smuggling of individuals through Latin America to the United States, particularly when the migrants originated in terrorism-riddled nations.  Grassley has also asked the Department’s Human Smuggling Cell for information collected on the dangerous practice of pairing unaccompanied minors with unrelated adults to avoid detention at the border.   

Grassley’s letter to Secretary Johnson follows:

September 6, 2016

The Honorable Jeh Johnson
Secretary
Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528

Dear Secretary Johnson:

            I am writing to express my continual concerns regarding the security of our border with Mexico.  Recent reports have shown a rise in the organization of known terrorist entities near our southern border, and increased smuggling of these individuals into the United States.  This weakness along the border continues to raise considerable national security and immigration concerns, many of which I have raised in recent letters to you.[1] 

            Beginning in 2015, reports surfaced that ISIS was operating training camps in close proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border.[2]  U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) expressed concern that “it would be relatively easy for those fighters to ‘walk’ north to the U.S. border along the same networks used to traffic drugs and humans.”[3] In recent months this concern has intensified.  In June 2016, news outlets reported that an Afghan national with ties to the Taliban was arrested in Arizona after being smuggled across the border, however, the Department’s National Targeting Center did not flag the individual in its terror database.[4]  Further, an ISIS operative arrested in Ohio claimed that some of his co-conspirators were south of the border in Mexico.[5]  

            Most recently, a leaked intelligence report from SOUTHCOM that was publicly reported seems to confirm the gravity of the potential dangers at our southern border.[6]  According to news articles, a SOUTHCOM spokesperson confirmed the vulnerabilities addressed in the report, stating: “In 2015, we saw a total of 331,000 migrants enter the southwestern border between the U.S. and Mexico, of that we estimate more than 30,000 of those were from countries of terrorist concern.”[7] Other outlets report that ISIS training cells just south of Texas are receiving assistance from Mexican drug cartel smuggling networks.[8] 

            In light of these troubling reports, I am extremely concerned about the security of our southern border and possible infiltration by terrorist organizations, and would appreciate answers to the following questions: 

1.    Was your Department aware of SOUTHCOM’s intelligence report?

2.    If so, can you confirm the vulnerabilities addressed in the SOUTHCOM report, as reported by the press?

3.    Does your Department agree with SOUTHCOM’s assessment of the border security situation?

4.    In particular, does your Department agree with SOUTHCOM’s assessment that of the total number of aliens crossing the southwestern border between U.S. and Mexico in 2015, more than 30,000 were from countries of terrorist concern?  If not, why not?

            Thank you in advance for your prompt responses. If you have any questions, please contact Katherine Nikas of my Committee staff at (202) 224-5225.

                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                                        Charles E. Grassley
                                                                        Chairman
                                                                        Committee on the Judiciary

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