The American television network NBC, through its news division NBC News, reported on Tuesday that eight men from Tajikistan with possible links to the terrorist organization ISIS were captured in the United States over the weekend in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.
According to the news outlet, the suspects entered through the southern border of the United States in 2023 and were under the radar of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Sources from the news outlet stated that the eight suspected ISIS members were arrested by personnel from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). More than 370 Tajikistanis entered Honduras from Nicaragua in 2023, according to official data from the government of Honduras.
“The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force was aware of a potential terrorist threat originating in Central Europe and began monitoring these men as part of that investigation, according to three sources,” NBC reports.
According to NBC, at least two of the men crossed the border in 2023, and one of them used the CBP One app, which the Biden administration created to allow migrants to schedule appointments to seek asylum.
Sources from the news outlet indicated that the Tajik citizens are detained and face deportation proceedings before an immigration judge, and they could later face terrorism-related charges, two sources told the outlet.
More than 370 crossed into Honduras from Nicaragua
According to data from the National Institute of Migration of Honduras (INMH) compiled by LA PRENSA, in 2023 at least 373 Tajik citizens entered the Central American country irregularly from the border with Nicaragua.
From this country, the Honduran institution had not recorded irregular entries before 2022, months after Daniel Ortega’s regime implemented the open-door policy for irregular migration, mainly through the Managua International Airport.
Between January and May 2024, at least 73 Tajikistani citizens entered Honduras irregularly, according to official data, indicating that they passed through Nicaragua.
It is not clear whether these migrants begin their journey from countries in the southern continent, passing through Nicaragua in transit, or if they arrive in the Managua International Airport through charter flights from distant nations, but in 2023 record number of charter flights arrived to Managua from countries outside the Western Hemisphere.
In 2023, irregular migration in Honduras reached unprecedented levels. During that year, 545,043 migrants were detected by the country’s immigration authorities, a figure not seen in years prior to 2021, when detections did not exceed 35,000. Ortega implemented his open-door policy in November 2021, starting with Cuban travelers but since it has extended to many other nationalities.