8 Tajikistan People Suspected Of Being Arrested In The US

UNSPLASH/Metin Ozer ILLUSTRATION

WASHINGTON - federal agents arrested eight men from Tajikistan Central Asian countries bordering Afghanistan as they fear these people may be planning a terrorist attack on US territory.

CBS News quoted several sources as reporting eight men living in Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia were detained earlier this month and charged with violating US civil immigration laws by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

They remain in custody and face the transfer process, according to two sources who do not want to be named.

Sources told CBS News there was no evidence to suggest a targeted attack had been planned, and US officials said there would be no threats in the near future against their country.

The people, who sources say have ties to ISIS, crossed into the US through the southwestern border between 2023 and 2024 but at the time, immigration officials had no information linking them to the terrorist group.

The eight migrants were arrested by US Immigration and Customs (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) when they entered the US without appropriate documents and were then released to the US with a notification to attend the immigration court, according to a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security.

Federal law enforcement acquired intelligence information suggesting the people were in the US and likely had ties to ISIS, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.

Investigators began monitoring their communications and following their activities on social media such as chat rooms and encrypted sites, according to one of the sources.

The FBI revealed the people were in contact with malicious actors who could potentially have ties with ISIS and investigators obtained an official FISA warrant from the court, two sources told CBS News.

Investigators also supervised the men.

The investigation is ongoing, and at the moment, these people have not been charged with terrorism-related charges.

The Justice Department declined to comment. The FBI declined to elaborate further on the June 11 statement in which the bureau and the Department of Homeland Security jointly said those people were in ICE custody pending the transfer process.