FBI director warns of ‘very dangerous threats’ at border, smuggling network with 'ISIS ties'

FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers that there are a "wide array" of threats at the southern border, including fentanyl and smugglers whose facilitators have ties to ISIS.

These images from a CBP intelligence bulletin show tattoos and identifiers for Tren De Aragua.

"An awful lot of the violent crime in the United States is at the hands of gangs who are themselves involved in the distribution of that fentanyl," he said.

Officials have warned about the presence of gangs, including Tren De Aragua. Fox News reported last week about a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) internal bulletin that told agents to be on the lookout for those coming across the border who may show signs of belonging to the bloodthirsty gang. Fox News reported last week that the brother of the suspect in the killing of Georgia student Laken Riley has ties to the gang. Both the suspect and his brother are Venezuelans who entered the U.S. illegally.

Rubio asked Wray whether smuggling networks that are moving people all over the world could also have ties to ISIS or other terrorist organizations.

"So, I want to be a little bit careful how far I can go in open session, but there is a particular network that, where some of the overseas facilitators of the smuggling network have ISIS ties that we're very concerned about and that we've been spending enormous amount of effort with our partners investigating. Exactly what that network is up to is something that's, again, the subject of our current investigation," he said.

Rubio asked him to confirm that there is a network "we’re concerned about" that has facilitators involved with ties to ISIS.

"Correct," Wray said.

ILLEGAL BROTHER OF LAKEN RILEY MURDER SUSPECT LINKED TO VENEZUELAN CRIME GANG: DOJ

There were more than 2.4 million migrant encounters in FY 23, and FY 24 so far included a month with record encounters of over 300,000. The border has become a top political issue with both President Biden and former President Donald Trump visiting the border this month.

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Republicans have blamed the crisis on the administration, while the administration says it needs more funding, staffing and immigration reform to be provided by Congress — and has accused Republicans of stalling that aid for political purposes.

Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.

He can be reached at adam.shaw2@fox.com or on Twitter.

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