(NewsNation) — A newer, stronger ISIS is once again a threat to U.S. security, and one lawmaker says that threat is arriving via the southern border.
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio is among the lawmakers sounding the alarm to stay vigilant on a possible attack by a rebuilt ISIS in the United States.
“They would love to do what they did in Moscow here inside the United States, and it’s something we have to be very vigilant about,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”
The latest Homeland Threat Assessment warns that foreign terrorists are actively seeking online supporters for funds, and to gather information on travel routes that could facilitate their entry into the country.
FBI director Christopher Wray confirms that cartels and Mexican gangs are operating smuggling networks with ties to the ISIS terror group.
“There is a particular network … where at some of the overseas facilitators of the smuggling network have ISIS ties that we’re very concerned about,” Wray told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on March 11.
Recent data shows that approximately 160 Foreigners who are on the terror watchlist attempted to reach the United States via the southern border in 2023. That’s approximately 100 more than made the attempt in 2022. And Wray told the Intelligence panel that it shows a new, dangerous confluence.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen in a long, long time … threats from homegrown violent extremists, that is jihadist inspired extremists, domestic violent extremists, foreign terrorist organizations and state sponsored terrorist organizations all being elevated at one time.”
One recent incident brings it home. NewsNation has confirmed the arrest of a Lebanese man who entered the country illegally through El Paso, Texas. He told federal agents he was here to make a bomb.