Federal authorities successfully deported some of the eight Tajik immigrants suspected of having ties to ISIS and planning at least one attack on the United States before rounding them up in New York and two other cities.
A squad of terrorist suspects from Tajikistan crossed the U.S. southern border, partly illegally and partly using the Harris-Biden administration's CBP One phone app.
“In close coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), these individuals were taken into custody in June and have been in ICE custody since then, and have either already been removed from the United States or remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. remains inside,” a Department of Homeland Security official said in a statement.
“The arrest and removal of these individuals demonstrates the success of DHS and FBI cooperation and partnership to disrupt and eliminate potential national security threats,” the representative said. .
DHS did not say exactly how many terrorist suspects who were not previously on U.S. terror watch lists have been taken into custody or to which countries.
Homeland Security officials said this is how the system should work, but too often that's not the case.
“The authorities do not want to take responsibility for them because they are members of a terrorist organization,” he said of the recently deported suspects. “Sadly, no one cares that the rapist goes free.”
The official added that even if a migrant has no criminal record, they should be forcibly removed if they cross the border illegally.
“ICE should remove all illegal aliens, regardless of their criminal history, rather than only removing certain people for political reasons,” the official said.
The official said authorities were still searching for more members of the group suspected of having ties to ISIS. It is unclear whether those included people who crossed the border illegally into the United States.
Eight people were arrested in the Big Apple, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
During the multi-state interrogation, authorities intercepted one of the suspects talking about the bomb, sources previously revealed. The group had discussed targeting “infidels” in the United States.
It was later determined that the group was planning an attack on an anonymous LGBTQ facility in the city of Brotherhood, a council official told the Post.
Before the arrest, FBI Director Chris Wray warned that ISIS may be taking advantage of the open southern border and warned lawmakers about the possibility of a “coordinated attack” on U.S. soil after ISIS-K stormed a concert hall. He spoke to the following people. It was carried out by Tajik nationals in Moscow, killing 145 people and injuring hundreds more.
“Our most pressing concern is that individuals or small groups will take perverse inspiration from events in the Middle East and carry out attacks here at home,” Wray told the House Appropriations subcommittee at the time. Ta.
“But what we are increasingly concerned about now is the possibility of a coordinated attack here in our homeland, similar to the ISIS-K attack we saw at a concert hall in Russia a few weeks ago,” Ray said. .
He also alerted the Senate Intelligence Committee that the agency was aware of a people-smuggling operation linked to ISIS-affiliated terrorists operating on the southern border.
“I want to be a little careful about how far we can go in a public session, but there are certain networks, some of the overseas intermediaries in smuggling networks, that have ties to ISIS, and we are very concerned about that. , along with our partners, have put a lot of effort into this investigation,” the FBI director said in response to a question from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
“What exactly that network is doing is still the subject of our current investigation,” he added.
The agency was also investigating a Turkish ISIS-linked smuggler who helped dozens of Uzbek migrants cross the southern border. CNN reported in August.
As illegal immigration into the United States has surged to record levels in recent years, the number of terrorist suspects being apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border has also increased.
From fiscal year 2021 to August 2024, Border Patrol agents apprehended 382 immigrants whose names were on U.S. terrorist watch lists, compared to 11 from fiscal year 2017 to 2020, according to federal data. It was a person.
But some people have slipped through the cracks time and time again.
One terrorist suspect whose name was on the watch list but was still able to enter the country is Mohammad Karwin, 48. He illegally crossed the California border in March 2023 and was released to the United States before his terrorist links were discovered.
It took nearly a year for him to be arrested after the FBI notified ICE of his suspected membership in the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization Hezb-e-Islam.
Mr Kerwin was finally arrested in February, but was released again by a judge who had not been informed of his alleged involvement in terrorism. Authorities then rushed to arrest him again.
Border Patrol agents also arrested and released a 27-year-old Somalian in March 2023. The man, who was not identified by name, was later determined to be a “confirmed member of al-Shabaab,” a designated terrorist organization, ICE previously confirmed. .
The man was said to be “involved in the use, manufacture, and transportation of explosives and firearms” and had been in the United States for nearly a year before ICE arrested him in Minnesota.
