WASHINGTON
A U.S. official on Friday avoided characterizing as terrorists, members of a U.S.-designated terror group who were arrested in the U.S. in September.
Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said four members of the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, crossed into U.S. from the Mexican border in September and were arrested because of their unlawful entry rather than ties to terrorism. The PKK is a separatist group that is on the State Department’s list of foreign terror organizations.
In the U.S.-led campaign against ISIL militants in Syria, the PKK has joined forces with some of the groups that are also fighting the ISIL terror group.
Johnson’s revelations left him under fire by the chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who questioned Johnson about the case at a hearing last month.
Some initial reports of the arrests claimed that the four were ISIL terrorists who had entered the U.S. through Mexico.
"Their supposed link to terrorism was thoroughly investigated and checked, and in the end amounted to a claim by the individuals themselves that they were members of the Kurdish Worker’s Party [PKK] – an organization that is actually fighting against ISIL and defended Kurdish territory in Iraq," Johnson said.
However, he noted the four individuals are currently detained because of their unlawful entry into the U.S. and will be deported.
In an interview with the American CBS News outlet, Chaffetz said the PKK is on the U.S. terror list.
"I don't think that should be dismissed as insignificant," Chaffetz said. "These are terrorists nonetheless and they had no trouble crossing our southern border. That's a problem that must be addressed."
Chaffetz said regardless of their fight against ISIL, they should be prosecuted rather than simply deported as they are tied with a group designated as terrorist by the U.S.
"There's no doubt in my mind that they're tied with terrorists. To try to say that they were good terrorists is a bit concerning coming from the Homeland Security Secretary.”
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