ICE arrests 8 people suspected of having ties to ISIS terrorist group
WASHINGTON ― U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in recent days arrested eight foreign nationals in the U.S. suspected to have ties with the terrorist group ISIS, a U.S. official familiar with the investigation confirmed.
The eight individuals were detained on immigration charges from New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Each is from Tajikistan and entered the U.S. at the southern Mexico border, the official said. They remain in U.S. custody.
The official said no derogatory information was detected about the individuals during their initial screening at the border but the U.S. later learned information that tied them to ISIS. They don't currently face any terrorism charges.
The ICE arrests were made in coordination with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces.
"The individuals arrested are detained in ICE custody pending removal proceedings," the Department of Homeland Security and FBI said in a joint statement.
"As the FBI and DHS have recently described in public and partner bulletins, the U.S. has been in a heightened threat environment. The FBI and DHS will continue working around the clock with our partners to identify, investigate, and disrupt potential threats to national security," the statement continued.
The New York Post first reported the arrests.
In April, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned of the possibility of a "coordinated attack" by terrorists in the U.S. following a March 22 ISIS-K attack in a Russian concert hall that killed 145 people.
President Joe Biden, who has faced repeated criticism from Republicans over his handling of a surge of migrants at the southern border, last week took executive action allowing him to effectively shut down the border to migrants when it becomes overwhelmed.
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