There are few remedies for removing foreign nationals who committed violent crimes, joined terrorist groups, or engaged in large-scale fraud after they became American citizens, lawmakers noted at a Senate hearing Wednesday.
Ken Cuccinelli, a former acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, pointed to two key cases that he said show the current law isn’t working, in his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution.
Read the full story
The Justice Department charged a man Friday for allegedly selling a gun to the suspected Old Dominion University shooter despite the suspect’s criminal record.
Authorities charged Kenya Chapman with making a false statement during a firearm purchase and engaging in the business of firearms dealing without a license after he allegedly sold the weapon to Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Army National Guard member, who used it to kill one person and injure two others during the shooting Thursday.
Read the full story
The Department of Homeland Security watchdog found that at least one Border Patrol office failed to adequately screen aliens with possible links to terrorism because the agency did not have a consistent policy under the Biden administration.
Read the full story
An asylum seeker in the U.K. successfully fought off deportation by arguing that he would be forced to shave off his beard if returned to his home country of Tajikistan.
The country’s Home Office attempted to deport the unidentified man, but an asylum court ruled that he is likely entitled to international protection because of his beard, according to the Telegraph. For years, Tajikistan’s government has enforced an unofficial no-beard policy for men in an ongoing campaign to prevent citizens from becoming radicalized and joining Islamic extremist organizations.
Read the full story
The USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier and strike group was also relentlessly bombing targets in Somalia while also attacking Houthi threats in Yemen, a top admiral revealed Monday.
The aircraft carrier and its strike group dropped 125,000 pounds of ordinance on ISIS targets in Somalia in addition to its main mission in Yemen, Acting Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby said at the Council on Foreign Relations according to Stars and Stripes. ISIS has bolstered its presence in Somalia, growing from about 500 fighters to 1,500 over 18 months, with roughly 60% being of foreign origin, a U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) spokesperson told Stars and Stripes.
Read the full story
A former Michigan Army National Guardsman has ben charged with attempting to attack a Detroit Army base for ISIS after planning a mass shooting.
Read the full story
Outgoing National Security Advisor Mike Waltz in one of his final interviews before exiting the administration, told Just the News that the U.S. under President Trump has gangs and terror networks – inside and outside of the U.S. – on the run.
Read the full story
Federal prosecutors charged a man allegedly inspired by the New Year’s Day massacre in New Orleans with attempting to join ISIS.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced terrorism charges against Abdisatar Ahmed Hassan from Minneapolis in a Friday press release, saying he tried to travel to Somalia to become an ISIS militant in December. The DOJ said Hassan “praised” ISIS follower Shamsud-Din Jabbar for his Jan. 1 attack that killed 15 people, bolstering past concerns that the attack would inspire copycat extremists.
Read the full story
Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, described the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) handling of the New Year’s Day terrorist attack that killed 14 and injured dozens more in New Orleans as “nothing short of appalling.”
After authorities said ISIS-inspired terrorist Shamsud Din Jabbar drove a vehicle through a crowd of revelers early on New Year’s Day before engaging in gunfire with law enforcement, the FBI has circulated conflicting information about the attack and suspect on multiple occasions, Pappert explained.
Read the full story
The trial began this week for Virginia man Mohammed Chhipa, who prosecutors say immigrated to the United States from India but is now a naturalized citizen who has lived in Virginia since 2008 and faces charges related to the alleged transfer of Bitcoin to a Syrian member of the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group through an intermediary in Turkey.
Prosecutors said on Tuesday that Chhipa converted over $74,000 into Bitcoin that was then transferred to ISIS members in Syria, according to Fox 5 DC, with the outlet reporting an undercover FBI agent testifying conversations about Chhipa sending the money happened alongside others about suicide bombings.
Read the full story
A 28-year-old man in Houston, Anas Said, has been indicted and arrested on charges he attempted to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a federally designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO).
Read the full story
In addition to members of Congress expressing alarm about national security threats at the U.S.-Canada border, members of the Conservative Party of Canada are blaming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government for being responsible for creating them.
A Canadian House of Commons hearing was held Wednesday to investigate how the Trudeau government granted citizenship to a member of ISIS who allegedly plotted a terrorist attack against Canadians.
Read the full story
A 34-year old man from Knoxville was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison followed by 20 years of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to the foreign terrorist organization ISIS, according to the Eastern District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Read the full story
Two weeks after a U.S. Tennessee representative sent out a warning about members of the terrorist group ISIS crossing the open southern border, news has emerged that an ISIS smuggling network has brought more than 400 illegal migrants into the country.
Three Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials told NBC News that “over 400 immigrants from Central Asia and elsewhere who crossed into the U.S. in the past three years as ‘subjects of concern’ because they were brought by an ISIS-affiliated human smuggling network.”
Read the full story
Another member of Congress has warned a terrorist attack is imminent. This latest warning comes after a former CIA director argued that similar warning signs exist today that did before the 9/11 terror attack occurred.
U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, told CBS News’ Face the Nation Sunday, “We are at the highest level of a possible terrorist threat” resulting from Biden administration policies.
Read the full story
In a case that has gotten almost no establishment media attention the FBI has arrested Alexander Scott Mercurio, 18, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, for attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS in connection with a plot to conduct a suicide attack on a church.
After the arrest the Department of Justice issued a news release saying in part:
Read the full story
An Idaho teenager allegedly planned to attack churches during Ramadan after pledging his support for the Islamic State, according to an affidavit from the Justice Department.
Alexander Scott Mercurio, 18, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was arrested over the weekend and charged with attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization, officials announced late Monday.
Read the full story
FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday confirmed that a smuggling organization working with the terrorist organization ISIS is funneling criminals through the U.S. border. He also said the FBI is currently investigating its operations that ‘we’re very concerned about.’
In a U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing held on Monday on worldwide threats to the United States, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, asked Wray about threats coming through the U.S. border.
Read the full story
A Knoxville man was convicted for attempting to provide material support to ISIS, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
“On Oct. 19, following an eight-day trial, a jury convicted Benjamin Carpenter, 31, of Knoxville, Tennessee, aka Abu Hamza, of attempting to provide material support to ISIS, a foreign terrorist organization,” the release says.
Read the full story
A judge sentenced a 26-year-old Florida resident to 18 years in federal prison for aiding a foreign terrorist organization, according to a Department of Justice press release.
Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari of Tampa, Florida, was under FBI investigation beginning in December of 2018 for allegedly providing support to ISIS which is recognized as a foreign terrorist organization under federal law, court documents revealed. Agents arrested Al-Azhari after he engaged with a confidential human source (CHS) who he obtained a gun and silencer from in 2020.
Read the full story
A federal court convicted a Dearborn, Michigan, man of joining the Islamic State (ISIS) and training in terrorist tactics from 2015 to 2018, the Department of Justice said in a press release.
Ibraheem Musaibli traveled to Syria in 2015 and enrolled in an “ISIS-run religious training camp” before moving on to a military training facility, where he learned how to operate a machine gun, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement. He then swore allegiance to ISIS and served as a member of the terrorist organization for the next two and a half years, a rare instance of a U.S.-born individual leaving America to support the notorious terrorist organization, according to The Detroit News.
Read the full story
Radical Islamic cleric Shaikh Abdullah Faisal was convicted Thursday on several counts of supporting terrorism after working as a recruiter for the Islamic State (ISIS), according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
Faisal promoted a radical interpretation of Islam that supported the idea of killing nonbelievers, leading to his incarceration in Britain in 2003 and deportation from Kenya in 2010, according to the New York Times. On Thursday, District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Faisal had been found guilty several counts of lending support for terrorism after attempting to recruit an undercover officer into ISIS.
Read the full story
A Florida man on Thursday was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for attempting to aid ISIS by providing material support to the terrorist organization.
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Romeo Xavier Langhorne pledged his allegiance to the group in 2014. After connecting with the group, he sought out like-minded individuals online.
Read the full story
A Kansas native admitted to organizing an all-female militia on behalf of ISIS in an Alexandria, Virginia, court on Tuesday.
Allison Fluke-Ekren pleaded guilty before a U.S. district court in Virginia for providing “material support to a foreign terrorist organization, namely the Islamic state of Iraq and al-Sham,” according to court documents.
Read the full story
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas may continue to insist the U.S. southern border is closed and secure — but President Joe Biden’s own Justice Department and its current FBI director are painting a picture of a border porous enough to tempt terrorists to assassinate a former president and drug cartels to operate with impunity.
Read the full story
A U.S. operation lead to the death of the leader of the Islamic State in northwest Syria late Wednesday evening, the Pentagon said.
The mission resulted in the death of its target, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the known leader of the terror group ISIS, according to the Department of Defense. There were no American casualties and all U.S. forces were safely evacuated.
Read the full story
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a press release Monday that an Ohio man has pleaded guilty to crimes stemming from a 2018 attempt to join ISIS.
Naser Almadaoji, 22, who was born in Iraq but lived in Beavercreek, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to provide material support Friday, just before his criminal trial was set begin.
Read the full story
The U.S. will provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan but won’t recognize the Taliban as the country’s leaders, the Associated Press reported on Sunday.
U.S. and Taliban officials met for the first time since American forces left the county in August in Doha, Qatar, according to the Associated Press. U.S. officials said they would provide aid to Afghanistan, which faces an economic disaster, at the meeting’s conclusion.
U.S. officials said the leaders “discussed the United States’ provision of robust humanitarian assistance, directly to the Afghan people,” the AP reported. The aid was promised after officials agreed it didn’t mean the U.S. would officially recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government.
Read the full story
New Zealand police shot and killed a terrorist inspired by ISIS after he stabbed and wounded six people in a grocery store Friday.
The man entered a supermarket in the city of Auckland on Friday afternoon and took a knife off the shelves, said Andrew Coster, Commissioner of Police for New Zealand. He began attacking shoppers, stabbing six people before police were able to respond.
Read the full story
In the wake of the bungled U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, many Americans may be wondering how the U.S. government found itself closely cooperating with, and even relying upon, an enemy with whom we were at war for 20 years.
The Taliban maintains its intention to enforce Sharia Law, harbors al-Qaeda, and includes a designated terrorist group among its organizations.
Yet the head of U.S. Central Command, General Kenneth McKenzie, praised the Taliban for their assistance with the U.S. evacuation, calling the jihadist group “actually very helpful.”
Read the full story
A private airplane that was flying into Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) in Kabul, Afghanistan to rescue stranded American citizens and Afghan allies allegedly was told to turn back or they would be shot down.
In the past 24 hours, American officials in charge of giving clearance at the airport told fellow Americans they would be fired upon if they didn’t leave, Mary Beth Long, a former Department of Defense official, told American Greatness in an exclusive interview.
Read the full story
Nine members of a family of Afghan allies, including six children, were killed in a US drone strike targeting ISIS terrorists in a residential neighborhood of Kabul, Sunday, according to multiple reports.
The drone strike was reportedly targeting suicide bombers who were planning an attack on Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA).
Read the full story
After the Department of Defense granted approval for two more Virginia military facilities to process Afghan refugees, half of the total number of refugee resettlement facilities in the United States will be located in the Commonwealth.
“The Department of Defense has authorized two additional military installations in Virginia to house Afghan refugees — Marine Corps Base Quantico and Fort Pickett, a National Guard training center an hour southwest of Richmond,” according to Military.com.
Read the full story
President Joe Biden told those responsible for the attacks on Kabul airport today: “We will hunt you down and make you pay.”
Biden made the remarks during an address to the nation on Thursday regarding the terrorist attack that killed 12 U.S. service members outside Kabul airport in Afghanistan.
Read the full story
Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed (R-TN) Senator Bill Hagerty to the newsmakers line in an exclusive interview addressing the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Read the full story
Virginia’s Fort Lee Army base will temporarily house about 700 Afghan citizens and their families who helped the U.S. military, beginning next week, according to statements from the State Department and the Department of Defense (DOD). The refugees served in roles including translation, and the first group will include up to 2,500 refugees.
Read the full story
Around 27,000 children, many with parents who are affiliated with ISIS, remain in a refugee camp in northeastern Syria, the United Nations counterterrorism chief said, the Associated Press reported Saturday.
The thousands of children “remain stranded, abandoned to their fate” where they are exposed to ISIS and are “at risk of radicalization within the camp,” said Vladimir Voronkov, the undersecretary general for counter terrorism at the U.N., during an informal meeting on Friday, the AP reported. He added that there are children from 60 countries at the camps who need to be repatriated.
Read the full story
The Syrian Democratic Forces are executing a new series of raids against active ISIS-affiliated militants in eastern Syria with the support of the U.S., VOA News reported Sunday.
The new campaign targets ISIS remnants in the Deir al-Zour province near Iraq, VOA News reported. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) military alliance is focusing on ISIS cells in the northern part of the province.
Read the full story
A Minnesota man accused of joining the Islamic State group has been returned to the United States and faces a terrorism charge after spending more than a year in Syrian custody with alleged IS fighters, according to documents unsealed Wednesday.
Abdelhamid Al-Madioum, 23, made his first appearance in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, appearing via video from a cell. Authorities say he was vacationing with his family in Morocco in 2015 when he secretly booked a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, and then traveled to Iraq and Syria, where he joined IS.
Read the full story
An Army sergeant major who rescued around 75 hostages from being executed by ISIS fighters in Iraq will be awarded the Medal of Honor on Friday, the U.S. Army announced on Tuesday.
Sgt. Maj. Thomas “Patrick” Payne ran through a burning building and enemy gunfire with a pair of bolt cutters to free the hostages during a rescue mission, according to the Army.
A 23-year-old U.S. citizen pleaded guilty to a terror charge Wednesday after being captured in 2019, according to the Department of Justice.
Omer Kuzu “pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to provide material support to terrorism,” according to a DOJ statement.
Read the full story
Members of the Islamic State have reportedly attempted to use the coronavirus pandemic to their advantage, increasing propaganda and attacks, a United Nations counter-terrorism official announced Monday.
Since ISIS reportedly began to rally in Syria and Iraq this year, there has been an increase in threats made to conflict zones and a decrease in threats to peaceful zones experiencing coronavirus related lock-downs and restrictions, Head of the U.N. Office of Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov said.
Read the full story
Prosecutors say that a woman who pleaded guilty to providing financial support to the Islamic State should face the maximum penalty under law, according to a new report.
Samantha Elhassani of Lake County, Indiana, faces up to 10 years in prison as she was reportedly aware of her actions, court documents say, Fox 59 reported. She is scheduled to be sentenced on August 27.
Read the full story
A man in Minnesota has been indicted by a federal grand jury on an attempt to provide a terrorist organization with material support, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
Muhammad Masood has been charged with one count of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Initially, the 28-year-old Pakistani national was charged in a criminal complaint in March, 2020.
Read the full story
The US Attorney for the District of Minnesota today announced charges against a former Rochester MN doctor for allegedly providing material support to ISIS. Muhammad Masood, 28, was taken into custody on Thursday atthe Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, according to the Dept. of Justice press release. According to the allegations in the complaint, Masood, who is a licensed medical doctor in Pakistan, was formerly employed as a research coordinator for a medical clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, under an H-1B Visa. Between January 2020 and March 2020, Masood made several statements to others, including pledging his allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) and its leader, and expressing his desire to travel to Syria to fight for ISIS. Masood also expressed his desire to conduct “lone wolf” terrorist attacks in the United States. On Feb. 21, 2020, Masood purchased a plane ticket from Chicago, Illinois to Amman, Jordan, and from there planned to travel to Syria. On March 16, 2020, Masood’s travel plans changed because Jordan closed its borders to incoming travel due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Masood made a new plan to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet up with an individual who he…
Read the full story
Two Michigan men have pleaded guilty this month to conspiring to provide material support to ISIS, various news outlets are reporting.
Read the full story
BAGHDAD – The U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State said Saturday it did not conduct any airstrikes near Camp Taji north of Baghdad.
Read the full story
A federal judge ruled that a New Jersey-born woman who left the country to join the Islamic State was never a U.S. citizen, undercutting her request to return.
Read the full story
Another Ohio-grown terrorist pled guilty this week to federal charges that included, “…attempting to provide support to a terrorist group and threatening to kill President Trump and his family.” Demetrius Nathaniel Pitts, also known as Abdur Raheem Rafeeq, was indicted in January on those charges which included scouting locations for a possible July 4th attack in Cleveland.
Read the full story
WASHINGTON – Some Islamic State supporters are starting to rally around the terror group’s new leader, using social media to pledge their allegiance to a man whose true identity may not be known for some time.
Read the full story