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ISIS-Linked Smuggler Helped Uzbeks Enter U.S., Sparking Security Fears: Report

Officials are now trying to locate some of those who were helped across the southern border.

A smuggler with ties to ISIS helped Uzbek nationals enter the United States by crossing the southern border with Mexico earlier this year, according to a report, sparking a high-level security response. CNN reports that a cohort of migrants from Uzbekistan requested asylum and underwent screening by the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year, and they were all released into the U.S. pending a court date. Only later did the FBI discover a human smuggling network assisting Uzbeks in traveling to the U.S., with at least one person in the network found to have links to ISIS. The discovery was considered serious enough to warrant an urgent classified intelligence report to be circulated among top Cabinet officials, and the FBI is now investigating over a dozen Uzbek nationals allowed to enter. U.S. officials have not yet located all of the individuals who traveled with the network. National Security Council spokesman Adrienne Watson said there’s no indication any of the people facilitated by the network have links to terror groups or are engaged in planning attacks against the U.S.