Senator Banks: 50 Illegal Aliens Smuggled Into U.S By ISIS Network Have Gone Missing

Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) said during an interview over the weekend that dozens of illegal aliens smuggled into the U.S. by an ISIS-affiliated network have gone missing.

Banks made the remarks during a Sunday CNN interview on “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper following last week’s ISIS terrorist attack in New Orlean’s French Quarter in which a recent convert to Islam murdered at least 14 people.

“We have got to get down to the reality of the matter that we have had 400 ISIS smuggled people coming into our country that the Department of Homeland Security told us about last summer,” Banks said. “And 50 of them, we don’t know where they are. We don’t know who they are or where they are. And we have to take that more seriously. I know President Trump will do that.”

Banks noted that during his first term in office, President Donald Trump “eradicated the ISIS caliphate” and that the terror group has only started to make a come back over the last couple of years following President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdraw from Afghanistan.

WATCH:

Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN): “We have had 400 ISIS smuggled people coming into our country that the Department of Homeland Security told us about last summer. And 50 of them, we don’t know where they are. We don’t know who they are or where they are.” pic.twitter.com/WdbSwqE8fS

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 5, 2025

Multiple U.S. officials confirmed to NBC News that the Department of Homeland Security that they believe the 50 illegal aliens scattered into 17 different states after illegally crossing the border.

The illegal aliens were all released into the U.S. because there was not information at the time connecting them to terrorism when they were contacted by U.S. Border Patrol.

Illegal aliens originating from countries were ISIS operates will rarely ever have information in any kind of database that connects them to terrorism because many of them have little-to-no infrastructure to track terrorist suspects. Also, even if the countries had the information, many of them would likely not want to share it with the United States because they view the U.S. as an enemy state.