The Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, has been subpoenaed by the Lower House to provide information about the migrants encountered at the southern border who are suspected of terrorism.
Mark Green, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, wrote in a letter accompanying the subpoena that committee members have been asking for such information for over a year "without compulsory process."
The subpoena orders Mayorkas to provide the information by July 19, with Green saying he and two other Republicans asked for the "specific documents and information relating to gotaways and illegal aliens on the terrorist screening database encountered at the Southwest border since January 2021." However, he added, they encountered several roadblocks and security excuses preventing the disclosure.
"You are required to produce all responsive documents, materials, or other items in unredacted form that are in your possession, custody, or control or otherwise available to you, regardless of whether the documents are possessed directly by you or your past or present agents, employers, employees, representatives, subsidiaries, affiliates, divisions, partnerships, and departments acting on your behalf," reads a passage of the subpoena.
The order comes as U.S. intelligence and security officials are increasing their focus on the country's southern border following the arrest earlier this month of eight men from Tajikistan with possible ties to the Islamic State group, also known as IS or ISIS.
According to a Voice of America report, outlet, authorities are concerned that the constant flow of illegal migrants crossing the southern border with Mexico has attracted the attention of the terrorist group as a strategy to enter the U.S.
All of the men arrived in the U.S. through the southern border in the past year. They were part of over 400 migrants brought into the U.S. by an ISIS-affiliated network. About 50 of them remain on the loose, with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents seeking to arrest them on terrorism charges. Moreover, 150 of them have been arrested.
"It's not lost on us that the people who killed over 150 Russians in that theater were from the same part of the world," said Ken Wainstein, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's undersecretary for intelligence and analysis, in reference to the March attack on a Moscow concert hall claimed by the ISIS' Afghan affiliate.
The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General has stated in a report that DHS has not been effectively screening and checking non-citizens and asylum seekers who are coming to the United States.
The department reported that without the ability to fully screen and vet non-citizens, CBP is unable to properly conduct screening at air and land ports of entry.
In an attempt to start dealing with the issue, the Biden administration announced in early May a policy where immigration judges and asylum officers will now have more access to classified information to help them more easily identify migrants that may have ties to terrorism or pose a threat to public safety.
The new policy, initially announced on a May 9 memo by the Biden administration, instructs asylum officers making an initial determination about an immigrant's eligibility to pursue an asylum claim to go to the head of their individual agency, like ICE or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services, for approval to share classified information.
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