Florida's Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott have written a joint letter demanding a hearing be held on the people who are on terrorist watchlists and were able to cross the southern border, Floridian Press reported.
"Over the past three years, the current administration's policies have effectively opened our borders, allowing millions, including individuals with potential criminal and terrorist intent, to enter the United States unchecked," the senators said in the letter, addressed at the Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair, Democratic Senator Gary Peters.
The letter comes days after the arrest of eight men from Tajikistan who are suspected of having ties with ISIS. The senators also highlighted that Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a hearing in early June that he is "worried about the possibility of a terrorist attack in the country after October 7," making reference to the attack by Hamas on Israel which catalyzed a war in the Middle East and sparked turmoil in the U.S. "The threat level has gone up enormously. Every morning, we worry about this question," Garland added.
On that note, the lawmakers said, "it is well past time to hold a public hearing on the danger of terrorism facilitated by easy access across the border." "For over three years, members of this Committee have repeatedly sounded the alarm on the need for oversight of the crisis at the Southwest border. The policies implemented by the Biden administration have directly contributed to unprecedented levels of illegal immigration, exposing a vulnerability that bad actors can exploit to enter the country."
Officials have taken some steps toward tightening security at the border. 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, according to a report by NBC News.
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.
This rule overrides a 2004 directive that said classified information could only be used in immigration proceedings "as a last resort." Under the old policy, asylum officers and prosecutors presenting a case for deportation in immigration court had to get approval from the Department of Homeland Security secretary to share classified information.
The officials said the memo announcing the new policy is one of the results of a three-year review of how immigration policies should evolve to mitigate terror threats.
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