Tajik nationals arrested over alleged ISIS ties have neen deported, DHS confirms

At least some of the Tajik nationals arrested over the summer for allegedly having ties to ISIS have been removed from the United States, federal authorities confirmed Wednesday.

Eight Tajik nationals were arrested in June during a nationwide sting operation that spanned several major cities. An investigation into the foreign nationals — which was conducted in coordination with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — reportedly uncovered at least one of them discussing bombs.

“In close coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), these individuals were detained in June, have remained in ICE custody since then, and either have already been removed from the United States or remain in ICE custody pending completion of their removal proceedings,” a DHS spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“The arrest and removal of these individuals demonstrates the successful collaboration and partnership between DHS and FBI to disrupt and dismantle potential national security threats,” the spokesperson continued.

The suspected ISIS members were nabbed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents across New York City, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, DHS confirmed to the DCNF in June. The sting operation was conducted in “close coordination” with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

DHS has so far not publicly confirmed the identities of the arrested individuals or specified how many were deported or remain detained in federal custody.

CBS News, which first reported on the Tajiks’ removals, reported that three of the individuals have been deported to Russia and Tajikistan, another four are awaiting deportation flights to Central Asia and the remaining one is awaiting legal proceedings following a medical incident but will likely also be removed.

News of the removals comes as more reports indicate waves of poorly vetted foreign nationals have been allowed to enter the country, including suspected terrorists.

Federal authorities failed to properly vet all of the thousands of Afghan evacuees who entered the U.S. after the Biden-Harris administration’s botched pull out of the country in August 2021, a DHS Inspector General report concluded in September 2022. A follow-up report by the DHS Inspector General earlier this year concluded that federal authorities are not properly monitoring the thousands of Afghan evacuees who are currently living in the U.S.

The Department of Justice announced Tuesday the arrest of Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, a 27-year-old Afghan national who was allegedly planning an ISIS-inspired Election Day terrorist attack in the U.S. Tawhedi had been admitted into the country on a special immigrant visa after the botched military pullout of Afghanistan, court documents confirm.

At least 99 individuals on the terrorist watchlist were allowed into the U.S. during the Biden-Harris administration, according to a congressional report released in August. The number of suspected terrorists illegally crossing the U.S. border has increased considerably since the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data show.

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