Former Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf said Tuesday on Fox News the department has “no idea” how many terrorists could be among the million of “gotaways” following a recent discovery of migrants with suspected ties to ISIS.
Wolf appeared on “The Ingraham Angle” to discuss the discovery by federal law enforcement authorities over the last week of a group of Russian nationalists who have suspected ties to ISIS. As Wolf began to call out the estimated “2 million gotaways,” Fox host Laura Ingraham questioned the former acting secretary on how many suspected terrorists could be among the group. (RELATED: Feds Arrest Russian Nationals With Suspected ISIS Ties In Major Sting Operation)
“We have no idea. The department has no idea because their strategy along that border is a complete and utter failure,” Wolf said.
Ingraham continued to call out the Biden administration, citing how an internal Border Patrol memo for a sector in California instructed authorities to release migrants from all but six specific countries. Ingraham asked Wolf about the timing of the memo, and whether the Biden administration already knew about the possibility of illegal migrants with terror links.
“Yeah, I mean they know the countries of concern. They know countries that are not sharing information,” Wolf said. “So you have no idea, even if you encounter foreign nationals from those countries, you can’t vet them because they’re not sharing information. We have nothing to base an assessment on. So they know that. They’ve known that for some time and the fact that they continue to exempt these individuals and allow folks to come into the country, you are not returning them.”
“This is why you need a different border strategy,” he continued. “You need to prevent people from coming in. Those that do come in, you need to both vet them but also detain them during their immigration court proceedings. And none of that is occurring today.”
On Sunday, an internal memo from the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector revealed officials are now instructing agents to release single adult migrants from countries other than Russia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan — which were labeled as “mandatory referral” countries, according to Fox News.
By Tuesday, the New York Post revealed the suspected Russian national terrorists with ISIS ties were arrested within a sting operation throughout Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia after crossing over illegally, the outlet first reported.
