FBI Chief Worried Border Crisis Leading to 9/11 Repeat

(ConservativeSense.com) – Christopher Wray, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), said earlier this week that he is concerned that the surge of illegal immigrants coming over the border could result in another terrorist attack similar to 9/11.

Wray and other leaders in the intelligence community testified on Monday, March 11, to the Senate Intelligence Committee about foreign threats to US national security in the wake of the crisis at the southern border, which remains open and overwhelmed with a continuous influx of unknown individuals attempting to enter the country.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas reminded the FBI director that the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 were carried out by 26 co-conspirators. He told Wray that he worries that among those crossing the border illegally are people who mean to do harm to Americans, and then asked the FBI director if he shared that same concern. Wray responded affirmatively.

Cornyn then went on to ask about a report from last year that exposed that ISIS was smuggling Uzbekistanian nationals into the US, which Wray replied is “a threat stream” that the FBI is “very concerned about.” He said that the FBI has been working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to identify people who were smuggled in as well as those who helped facilitate their travel “in some way overseas.”

Earlier in the hearing, Wray was asked by Vice Chairman of the committee Marco Rubio if any connections were discovered between ISIS or other terrorist groups and international smuggling operations. Wray said “a particular network” was found to have some smuggling facilitators with ties to ISIS that the FBI is “very concerned about,” and has “been spending enormous amounts of effort” investigating with partner organizations.

Rubio also asked Wray if he saw any examples of crimes perpetrated by illegals who have connections with foreign cartels or other criminal organizations. Wray replied that the FBI has seen “a wide array” of threats emanating from the border, from drug trafficking to violent crimes by the gangs selling the drugs. He noted fentanyl in particular, which Wray said the FBI has encountered enough of over the last couple of years “to kill 270 million people.”