The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) is concerned over Uzbek nationals who recently sought asylum and got into the United States earlier this year. The U.S. National Security Council said the bureau is tracking the individuals who intelligence officials say were brought to the United States southern border from a smuggler with ties to the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS).

“While the FBI has not identified a specific terrorism plot associated with foreign nationals who recently entered the U.S. at the southern border, we always work with our field offices across the country, as well as our domestic and international partners, to identify any potential illegal activity or terrorism threats,” the FBI told The Foreign Desk.

The FBI learned about the smuggling network later, discovering that it was helping Uzbeks in the homeland, with one individual having ties to ISIS. The FBI has begun a nationwide search for the migrants, working with Turkish officials, who arrested the smuggler and other members of the illegal network, reports  The Foreign Desk.

The report continued to say, U.S. intelligence officials say the smuggler most likely did not assist the migrants on orders from ISIS. The smuggled Uzbeks who have come into the homeland have not been located, and those tracked by the FBI are undergoing strict scrutiny as potential criminal threats.

NSC spokesman Adrienne Watson said officials were working to “identify and assess” the individuals who obtained entry into the homeland. “There was no indication and remains no indication that any of the individuals facilitated by this network have a connection to a foreign terrorist organization or are engaged in plotting a terrorist attack in the U.S.,” Watson said.

According to reports, U.S. authorities said the migrants requested asylum at the U.S. southern border with Mexico in 2023 and were screened by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Officials say nothing in the U.S. intelligence community’s databases revealed any red flags, and they were released into the homeland pending legal proceedings.

“As always, we ask anyone with information about federal crimes or threats to public safety to report it to the FBI,” an FBI spokesperson told The Foreign Desk. “Whenever we have indicators that criminal actors—such as those involved in human smuggling—have connections to terrorism, we work diligently with our partners to investigate and understand how foreign terrorist organizations may attempt to exploit their capabilities so that we can best mitigate any risk to the American public,” the official added.