AP sources: 8 people with possible Islamic State ties arrested in US on immigration violations
Eight individuals from Tajikistan with suspected ties to the Islamic State have been arrested in the United States in recent days
WASHINGTON (AP) — Eight people from Tajikistan with suspected ties to the Islamic State have been arrested in the United States in recent days, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
The arrests took place in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles and the individuals, who entered the U.S. through the southern border, are being held on immigration violations, said the people, who were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation by name and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The nature of their suspected connections to the Islamic State was not immediately clear, but the individuals were being tracked by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, or JTTF. They were in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which made the arrests while working with the JTTF, pending proceedings to remove them from the country.
The individuals from Tajikistan entered the country last spring and passed through the U.S. government's screening process without turning up information that would have identified them as potential terrorism-related concerns, said one of the people familiar with the matter.
