Eight Tajik men with probable ISIS affiliations were arrested over the weekend in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, according to three people familiar with the situation.
According to sources, the suspects were on the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force radar when they were apprehended by ICE agents.
All eight individuals crossed the southern border into the United States, and their criminal background checks came back clean, according to two authorities familiar with the situation.
According to nbcnews.com, at least two of the men crossed the border in spring 2023, with one using the CBP One app, which the Biden administration designed to help migrants to make appointments to claim asylum.
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force was aware of a potential terrorist threat originating in Central Europe and began monitoring these men as part of that investigation, according to three sources.
According to a senior US official, the FBI has been monitoring the organization for several months and keeping careful tabs on their actions.
While they have not yet been charged with a terrorist connection or plot, the FBI advised ICE that they should be detained due to probable ties to ISIS, and they were arrested on immigration charges, according to two sources. They are detained and will face removal proceedings before an immigration judge, with the possibility of subsequently facing terrorism-related charges, according to two sources.
“ICE agents arrested several non-citizens pursuant to immigration authorities in the last few days,” the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI said in a joint statement on Tuesday. “The operations were carried out in close cooperation with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces. The people apprehended are being held in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.”
As previously reported by NBC News, in April, ICE detained an Uzbek man in Baltimore with alleged ISIS ties after he had lived in the United States for more than two years.