An FBI chief has warned that the US border faces a "dangerous threat" from a smuggling network with ties to Isis.
Speaking at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Christopher Wray said there were dangerous individuals entering the country through the southern border.
When asked by Senator Marco Rubio about the threats at the border, he said: "From an FBI perspective, we are seeing a wide array of very dangerous threats that emanate from the border.
"And that includes everything from drug trafficking — the FBI alone seized enough fentanyl in the last two years to kill 270 million people — that's just on the fentanyl side.
An FBI chief has warned that the US border faces a 'dangerous threat' from a smuggling network with ties to Isis
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"An awful lot of the violent crime in the United States is at the hands of gangs who are themselves involved in the distribution of that fentanyl."
The presence of gangs illegally funnelling into the US has sparked concern with officials being warned of notorious Venezuelan prison gang, Tren De Aragua.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is now on the lookout for members passing the border.
It comes after student Laken Riley was kidnapped and killed while out jogging at the University of Georgia.
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The suspect and his brother both entered the US illegally from Venezuela.
According to Fox News, it is believed the pair have ties with Tren De Aragua.
Wray was also asked whether smuggling networks that move people across the world could have ties to ISIS or other terror organisations.
He said: "So, I want to be a little bit careful how far I can go in open session, but there is a particular network that, where some of the overseas facilitators of the smuggling network have ISIS ties that we're very concerned about and that we've been spending enormous amount of effort with our partners investigating.
At least 12,600 migrant encounters took place in just 24 hours at the southern border in the US
Getty"Exactly what that network is up to is something that's, again, the subject of our current investigation."
Rubio asked him to confirm that there is a network "we’re concerned about" that receives assistance from those involved with Isis.
"Correct," Wray responded.
The latest figures show that in January alone, almost 130,000 migrants made the crossing over the southwest border.
