Giving credit where credit was due, Tuesday’s NBC Nightly News had a full report sharing disturbing news on the wide open U.S.-Mexico border where over 50 illegal immigrants released into the U.S. have possible ties to ISIS and a smuggling scheme. In other words, more than 50 terrorists could be roaming the U.S. as they please, courtesy of the Biden border crisis.

“NBC News Investigates the search for more than 50 migrants with possible ties to an ISIS-affiliated smuggling network, released into the U.S. Their whereabouts unknown,” anchor Lester Holt ominously warned in the first of two teases.

 

 

Holt later added in the lead-in to Ainsley’s taped report that “the search is,” not surprisingly, “on to find them”.

Ainsley explained the “more than 50 migrants” (read: illegal aliens) “are at large in America” and “[m]any illegally crossed the border were and released into the U.S. by Border Control because there was no information suggesting terror ties at the time.”

Excuses, excuses.

Ainsley revealed they’re “among a group of over 400 migrants DHS identified in the U.S. from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, and Russia, as subjects of concern because they were brought to the U.S. by an ISIS-affiliated smuggling network, something the FBI director warned about earlier this year.”

Unfortunately, Ainsley added, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has only arrested “over 150 of the 400 migrants so far with some already deported”, but the Biden regime has insisted to her they’re “not panicking” since they haven’t made a definitive determination of whether each person has ISIS sympathies.

After recapping a story from a few weeks ago (more on that shortly), she noted the Department of Homeland Security inspector general is concerned:

And recently, the DHS inspector general sharply criticizing vetting at the U.S. southern border, saying DHS is “at risk of admitting dangerous persons into the country or enabling asylum seekers who may pose significant threats to public safety and national security to continue to reside in the United States”.

This wasn’t the first time Ainsley has done admirable coverage on the border. Two weeks ago on June 12, Ainsley pointed out the obvious to her fellow liberals that, despite the Biden regime’s claims otherwise, illegal immigrants are still being widely released into the U.S.

A day earlier, Ainsley reported on the previous weekend’s arrest of eight men from Tajikistan in Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia.

Back on May 1, Ainsley had the only evening broadcast network mention of a suspected ISIS fugitive from Uzbekistan having crossed the border in 2022.

Ainsley also had reports on April 11 about a man on the terror watch list being released into the U.S. after entered the country and then March 18 on an illegal immigrant caught at the border who professed to being a Hezbollah bomb-maker.

She hasn’t been entirely on the side of controlling the border. On March 20, she had a puff piece touting small towns as beneficiaries of illegal immigrant labor, and then peddled a puffy anecdote from June 18 on President Biden’s executive order on allowing illegal immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens to stay (provided they meet certain conditions).

To see the relevant NBC transcript from June 25, click “expand.”

NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt
June 25, 2024
6:31 p.m. Eastern [TEASE]

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: NBC News Investigation]

LESTER HOLT: NBC News Investigates the search for more than 50 migrants with possible ties to an ISIS-affiliated smuggling network, released into the U.S. Their whereabouts unknown.

(....)

6:42 p.m. Eastern [TEASE]

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Coming Up; Search for ISIS-Linked Migrants]

HOLT: In 60 seconds the search for dozens of migrants in this country with possible ties to an ISIS smuggling network. Right after this.

(....)

6:43 p.m. Eastern

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: NBC News Investigates; ISIS Human Smuggling Ring?]

HOLT: We’re back now with our NBC News investigation. Dozens of migrants with potential ties to an ISIS-linked smuggling network released into the U.S. Now the search is on to find them. Here’s Julia Ainsley.

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: NBC News Investigates; Migrants Smuggled to U.S. by ISIS-Linked Network]

JULIA AINSLEY: Tonight, NBC News has learned more than 50 migrants with potential ties to an ISIS affiliated smuggling network are at large in America. Many illegally crossed the border were and released into the U.S. by Border Control because there was no information suggesting terror ties at the time. Now, their whereabouts are unknown as immigration agents look to arrest them, U.S. officials tell us, saying they’re among a group of over 400 migrants DHS identified in the U.S. from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, and Russia, as subjects of concern because they were brought to the U.S. by an ISIS-affiliated smuggling network, something the FBI director warned about earlier this year.

FBI DIRECTOR CHRISTOPHER WRAY [on 03/11/24]: Some of the overseas facilitators of the smuggling network have ISIS ties that we’re very concerned about.

AINSLEY: ICE has located and arrested over 150 of the 400 migrants so far with some already deported from the U.S. officials say, adding authorities are “not panicking” because their ties to ISIS are not certain, but they’re prioritizing their arrest out of an abundance of caution.

FORMER FBI COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL CHRIS O’LEARY: The problem is the volume of people coming across the southern border, individuals from ISIS and other affiliated groups have recognized it as a weak point in our defense, and they’re using this opportunity to try to sneak in.

AINSLEY: NBC News was first to report on a similar arrest of an Uzbekistan man in Baltimore whose country alerted the U.S. he was affiliated with ISIS. That man, like the others apprehended so far, was arrested on immigration charges, not terrorism-related charges. ISIS-K has claimed responsibility for deadly terror attacks in Russia and Iran in the past year. And recently, the DHS inspector general sharply criticizing vetting at the U.S. southern border, saying DHS is “at risk of admitting dangerous persons into the country or enabling asylum seekers who may pose significant threats to public safety and national security to continue to reside in the United States” Two senior law enforcement officials told NBC News they are not tracking a terror plot from this group of migrants, but their arrest on immigration charges come out of an abundance of caution. Lester?

HOLT: All right, Julia, thank you.