Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) underscored the danger that the United States faces after its recent strikes on Iran’s nuclear forces, a growing sentiment among congressional lawmakers.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) called for “greater visibility” on the status of the country’s homeland security, saying briefings should not be postponed until Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth returns from the annual North Atlantic Treaty Organization Summit. Mast said there is a “real threat” of sleeper cells by operatives “from a host of different countries,” but suggested the Trump administration can garner major intelligence by addressing this.
“If you allow these individuals to fester here and remain unchecked, the problem grows,” Mast explained on Fox News’s The Story with Martha MacCallum. “If you have a Trump administration that says, ‘We’re gonna roll up everybody that’s here illegally, no matter what, and we’re gonna return them to your country of origin,’ think of the intelligence that you gather off of that when you start rolling up a couple members that were former[ly] part of the [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps], that are known and suspected terrorists, that are worshiping at these specific mosques. You get more intel to get you down the road for a better and safer America.”
Mast emphasized the “gotaways” among the illegal immigrants in the nation, citing how the Biden administration had policies that “incentivized” people to come to the country illegally. This prompted the lawmaker to question why someone would want to run away from these incentives and avoid detection.
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Border czar Tom Homan revealed on Sunday that over 1,200 Iranian nationals were among the “over 10 million people” who crossed into the U.S. illegally during the Biden administration. He added that President Donald Trump’s intelligence community has been working “since Day One” to figure out where the gotaways are.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) has also vocalized concern over possible Iranian sleeper cells in the U.S., calling to “be very, very aware of what’s going on.”