(DailyAnswer.org) – US Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel in conjunction with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force have arrested eight migrants from Tajikistan with links to ISIS, a federal source told reporters.
Arrests occurred in Los Angeles, New York City and Philadelphia. All eight suspects illegally crossed the southern border into the US. According to the source, neither the Department of Homeland Security nor US Customs and Border Protection flagged the “derogatory information” during initial processing when the suspects were “fully vetted”.
Officials stated that the suspects had already been vetted by immigration authorities and allowed into the country by the time agents linked intelligence gathered on overseas ISIS targets to the group of Tajiks. Three officials clarified that no hard evidence indicated that the suspects were sent to the US to carry out a terror plot. They noted, however, that several of the Tajik nationals used extremist rhetoric either on social media or in private conversations that were monitored by US intelligence.
Emergency investigative efforts reminiscent of the FBI’s investigations into a number of homegrown plots following 9/11 presented federal officials with the difficult decision between continuing surveillance and apprehending the suspects. Senior U.S. officials chose to have ICE agents take the men into custody rather than risk a potential terrorist attack. The eight suspects are being held on immigration charges and will be deported following the counterterror investigation.
In May DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced a new rule that would allow the DHS to legally block asylum earlier in the application process and remove individuals sooner than previously allowed if they pose a threat to national security. Mayorkas commented that the rule change would better ensure the safety of American citizens with faster identification and removal of dangerous individuals.
US armed forces are still actively targeting ISIS leaders abroad; US Africa Command announced that it had carried out an airstrike on May 31 on a remote region of northeastern Somalia. The target was Abdulqadir Mumin, who was identified by the US as the leader of ISIS in the country. US officials stated that it was unclear whether the leader had been killed in the strike.
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