FBI agents deport some of the suspected ISIS-linked migrants who slipped into the US in a planned attack

Federal authorities managed to deport some of the eight Tajik migrants suspected of having ties to ISIS and planning at least one U.S. attack before they were arrested in New York and two other cities.

The group of terror suspects from Tajikistan crossed the U.S. southern border, some illegally – others using the Harris-Biden administration’s CBP One phone app.

“In close coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), these individuals were arrested in June, have been in ICE custody since then, and have either already been deported from the United States or remain in ICE custody pending the completion of their deportation proceedings.” a Department of Homeland Security representative said in a statement.

“The arrest and removal of these individuals demonstrates the successful collaboration and partnership between DHS and FBI in disrupting and eliminating potential national security threats,” the representative said.

DHS would not say exactly how many of the accused terrorists — who had not previously been on a U.S. terrorism watch list — have been kicked out so far, or to which country or countries they were abducted.

A Department of Homeland Security source said that’s how the system is supposed to work — although all too often it doesn’t.

“Because they are part of a terrorist organization, the agency doesn’t want that liability,” he said of the recently deported suspects. “Unfortunately, no one cares that a rapist is free.”

The source added that even if a migrant has no criminal record, he should be deported if he crosses the border illegally.

“ICE should deport all illegal immigrants regardless of their criminal record — not just certain people for political reasons,” the source said.

The source said the agency was still searching for additional members of the suspected ISIS-linked group. It was not clear whether this includes people who crossed the border illegally to get into the United States.

The eight were snapped in the Big Apple, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

During the nationwide raid, authorities overheard one of the suspects talking about bombs, it was previously reported. The group had discussed targeting “infidels” in the United States.

It later emerged that the group was planning an attack on an unnamed LGBTQ facility in the City of Brotherly Love, a congressional source told the Post.

Before the arrests, FBI Director Chris Wray warned that ISIS could exploit the open southern border and briefed lawmakers on the possibility of a “coordinated attack” following an ISIS-K attack on a concert hall in the United States on U.S. soil Moscow – carried out by citizens of Tajikistan – killed 145 people and injured hundreds more.

“Our greatest concern was that individuals or small groups would take twisted inspiration from events in the Middle East to carry out attacks here at home,” Wray told a House budget subcommittee at the time.

“But now there is increasing concern about the possibility of a coordinated attack here at home, similar to the ISIS-K attack we saw in the Russian Concert Hall a few weeks ago,” Wray said.

He also previously warned the Senate Intelligence Committee that the office was aware of a people-smuggling operation with ties to terrorists from ISIS-affiliated groups operating on the southern border.

“I want to be a little careful about how far I can go in the public session, but there is a particular network where some of the foreign supporters of the smuggling network have ISIS ties that we are very concerned about and that we have “We have made tremendous efforts to conduct investigations with our partners,” the FBI director said in response to a question from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida).

“What exactly this network is up to is again the subject of our current investigation,” he added.

The FBI also investigated a smuggler linked to Turkey’s ISIS who helped dozens of Uzbek migrants cross the southern border, CNN reported in August.

As illegal immigration to the U.S. has reached record levels in recent years, the number of terrorism suspects caught at the U.S.-Mexico border has also increased.

Border agents apprehended 382 migrants whose names were on the U.S. terror watch list between fiscal years 2021 and August 2024, compared to 11 in fiscal years 2017 through 2020, according to federal data.

But some have managed to slip through the cracks – again and again.

One of those terror suspects whose name was on the watchlist but still managed to get through was Mohammad Kharwin, 48. He crossed the California border illegally in March 2023 and was released into the US before his suspected terror links were discovered.

It took nearly a year for the FBI to inform ICE about his alleged membership in the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist group Hezb-e-Islami and for him to be caught.

In February, Kharwin was finally arrested – but released by a judge who had not been informed of his suspected connection to terrorism. The authorities then took action against him and arrested him again.

Border Patrol agents also caught and released a 27-year-old Somali citizen in March 2023 who was not identified by name but was later found to be a “confirmed member of Al Shabaab,” a designated terrorist organization, ICE previously admitted.

The man, who was allegedly “involved in the use, manufacture, or transportation of explosives or firearms,” was in the U.S. for nearly a year before ICE caught him in Minnesota.