Rubio: FBI Director ‘Confirmed’ ISIS-Linked Trafficking Network Exists

Following the shocking and deadly terrorist attack in Russia over the weekend, which ISIS claimed responsibility for, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is warning about a trafficking network being used to smuggle ISIS-connected illegal aliens into the United States — noting that FBI Director Christopher Wray had confirmed the existence of the network.

The Florida senator made these comments during a Sunday interview on ABC News’ “This Week,” where he discussed the deadly terrorist attack in Moscow that killed more than 100 people.

While ISIS was reportedly eliminated under former president and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, the terrorist group has reportedly seen a resurgence under President Joe Biden — with Rubio placing the blame on Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.

“ISIS-K, ISIS-Khorasan, is largely the Afghan-wing of ISIS,” Rubio explained. “It’s reconstituted itself as we warned would happen when we had this disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. One of the reasons why we didn’t want to withdraw precipitously is because you gave them operating space to reorganize themselves and plan externally. And since that time, they’ve attacked inside of Afghanistan.”

The Florida senator went on to point out that ISIS-K was responsible for the suicide bomb blast that killed 13 American service members at Kabul International Airport during Biden’s disastrous withdrawal in 2021. ISIS-K also recently carried out a major terror attack in Iran that caused the deaths of more than 80 people.

“And they’ll do it here in the homeland,” Rubio said. “I think we should be very concerned as the FBI director confirmed to me that there is a wing — there is a trafficking network out there that specializes in moving people. They do it for profit, moving people and migrants around the world, including across our southern border, who have links to ISIS.”

“I think common sense tells you, if they run a trafficking network of people, they would most certainly use it to move operatives into the United States,” he added. “So, I’m not claiming there’s an imminent threat to the U.S., but I am saying that border situation and that existence of that network is a threat to the United States. If they could do what they did in Moscow in the United States, they would do it in a heartbeat. They want to do it.”

Rubio then pointed to Trump’s success at putting ISIS “out of business,” noting that, under a weak Biden administration, the terrorist group has “reconstituted themselves.”

“And part of it is, once we leave Afghanistan and we’re no longer there to conduct regular strikes, they can now operate openly,” he said. “No matter how much the Taliban wants to take them on, they can’t. They don’t have the capability to do it. And these guys have found a place to operate from. They need real estate. They need land and places where they can organize and do external plotting.”

“Now, it’s a lot easier for them to get into Iran. It’s a lot easier for them to get into Russia and do these things,” Rubio added. “But their aspirations go beyond Russia and Iran. They would love to do what they did in Moscow here inside the United States. And it’s something we have to be very vigilant about when we have a border in which 9 million people have come across in the last three years.”