More than two years after the 9/11 attacks, the United States has experienced an evolving landscape of terrorist attacks. But one of the top concerns facing the country today is at its own southern border, where officials report increasing numbers of illegal immigration, according to one Republican lawmaker.

The House Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology held a field hearing earlier this week at the 9/11 Memorial Museum, where lawmakers questioned witnesses on the changing threat landscape the country continues to face since the 2001 attacks, which has been recorded as the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement personnel in U.S. history. Witnesses testified on a range of issues, including illegal immigration and the smuggling of fentanyl at the southern border.

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“If you just use sheer numbers and look at the amount of people that have come through, there’s no doubt that there are people coming into this country from different places who would like to cause harm to the greatest nation on the planet,” Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), who led the field hearing, told the Washington Examiner. ”And that is an evolving threat that we need to focus on.”

One of the witnesses, New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner, testified that the police department often relies on its partnership with federal agencies to vet immigrants who come into the state.

However, some committee members pushed back on that process, arguing communication between agencies must be improved in order to protect the country against continued threats.

“I believe that it’s just complete lack of communication and coordination,” D’Esposito said.

The New York Republican pointed to a deal between the Federal Aviation Administration and the New York City Port Authority to transform an old warehouse at the John F. Kennedy Airport to house incoming immigrants, noting a “lack of coordination” that made it more difficult for law enforcement agencies to investigate potential crimes.

“There was zero communication between the city of New York [over] who really had the authority over the migrants,” D’Esposito said. “It was zero communication between them, between the port authority, between the TSA, and between Customs and Border Patrol.”

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D’Esposito said he hopes the hearing paves the way for future action by the House to begin addressing any shortcomings and identify any weaknesses that can help the country prepare for future attacks.

“I think that this is a real opportunity to have a conversation about things that sometimes may be difficult to really unfold,” D’Esposito told the Washington Examiner last week. “I think that there’s a real good opportunity here for us to just work together and to really make sure that agencies throughout the country are working in a cohesive way to really live out the oath that we took.”