(NewsNation) — New reporting indicates over 400 migrants have been brought to the U.S. by an Islamic State group-affiliated human smuggling network.
Over 150 of them have been arrested, but the whereabouts of over 50 migrants remain unknown, according to officials. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it is looking to arrest them on immigration charges when they are found.
“Sometimes there’s no information on individuals. I mean, it’s quite common where there’s just nothing you have, there’s no criminal conviction, there’s no threatening information or whatever on these individuals or maybe these individuals are from an area that is of particular concern but that pops up later on when you get the information later,” ICE acting director Patrick Lechleitner said.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is doing a victory lap as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas held a press conference in the Tucson Sector Wednesday kicking off his tour of border facilities in Arizona.
Mayorkas is set to visit the Nogales area, which includes a busy port of entry where nearly 23 million fentanyl pills have been seized this fiscal year — roughly two million of these being in June alone.
The latest data shows migrant numbers have dropped significantly since President Joe Biden’s executive order went into effect. DHS sources tell NewsNation they have been averaging 2,400 migrant encounters since the action took effect three weeks ago, a significant drop from the average of 4,000 encounters prior.
However, the past month has seen a number of high-profile crimes involving migrants.
In Houston, two migrants have been charged with the brutal murder of a 12-year-old girl. The two men are Venezuelan nationals who entered the U.S. illegally in March, according to a statement Friday from ICE.
In Maryland, a migrant from El Salvador was implicated in the murder of Rachel Morin nearly a year after her body was found on a popular hiking trail. He is also accused of a murder in El Salvador and a home invasion and the assault of a 9-year-old girl and her mother in Los Angeles in early 2023.