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US federal agents have arrested eight Tajikistan nationals located in the United States on immigration charges following the discovery of potential ties to terrorism, two sources familiar with the law enforcement operation told CNN Tuesday.
The arrests by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement – first reported by the New York Post – included apprehensions in Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia, the sources said.
They come amid recent warnings from US intelligence officials regarding an elevated threat environment.
One source said the eight previously entered the US via the Southern border and were screened by US officials, and that no derogatory information in their past was identified at the time.
A second source said investigators later discovered possible links to ISIS members located overseas, which spurred the federal investigation. The method of identifying the suspects inside the US was accomplished in part by the US government's highly sensitive targeting of the communications of ISIS members abroad, the source said.
The group had been on the radar of US officials for well over a month, but senior US officials recently decided to have the eight expelled from the country under ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations authority rather than risking having the FBI surveil them longer and wait for the potential manifestation of a possible plot, the source told CNN.
The arrests by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement – first reported by the New York Post – included apprehensions in Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia, the sources said.
They come amid recent warnings from US intelligence officials regarding an elevated threat environment.
One source said the eight previously entered the US via the Southern border and were screened by US officials, and that no derogatory information in their past was identified at the time.
A second source said investigators later discovered possible links to ISIS members located overseas, which spurred the federal investigation. The method of identifying the suspects inside the US was accomplished in part by the US government's highly sensitive targeting of the communications of ISIS members abroad, the source said.
The group had been on the radar of US officials for well over a month, but senior US officials recently decided to have the eight expelled from the country under ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations authority rather than risking having the FBI surveil them longer and wait for the potential manifestation of a possible plot, the source told CNN.
