At least a dozen men from terrorist hotspots in the Middle East have been apprehended after using smuggling rings to illegally enter the U.S. through the southern border. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) obtained documents that confirmed the fears that terrorists are using the southern border and lenient immigration enforcement polices to infiltrate the U.S., contrary to what the Obama administration has claimed.

One of the illegal aliens apprehended was identified as having connections with the Taliban and was “involved in a plot to conduct an attack in the U.S. and/or Canada,” according to DHS officials. This connection was only found after Border Patrol agents checked the FBI database, the initial Terrorist Screening Database used by Border Patrol did not have any derogatory information on the suspected terrorist.

The Afghan was captured with five other men who were eventually identified as being from Pakistan. All six men made asylum claims and the other five Pakistanis were released based on those claims, due to the Obama administration’s catch and release policy, and have since disappeared.

Rep. Hunter’s chief of staff, Joe Kasper, commented, “It’s disturbing, in so many ways. The interdiction of this group … validates once again that the southern border is wide open to more than people looking to enter the U.S. illegally strictly for purposes of looking for work, as the administration wants us to believe. What’s worse, federal databases weren’t even synced and Border Patrol had no idea who they were arresting and the group was not considered a problem because none of them were considered a priority under the president’s enforcement protocol. That’s a major problem on its own, and it calls for DHS to figure out the problem — and fast.”

Read more on this story at The Washington Times.