None of the Isis-linked suspects who have ever been charged in the United States came from Syria and the overwhelming majority were born in the US, research reveals.
Sixty-eight people have been indicted because of alleged involvement in Isis, of whom 18 have been convicted, with an average sentence of 10 years three months, according to figures published this week by Center on National Security at Fordham University.
Yet despite a growing political clamour over a perceived security threat posed by an influx of Syrian refugees, the data shows that only three of those indicted in connection with Isis was a refugee or asylum seeker; none came from Syria.
Instead 55, or 80.9%, of the individuals concerned are US citizens, including 44 who were born in America. The rest include six born in Bosnia, four in Uzbekistan, three in Somalia and two in Sudan. Fifty-eight are men and 10 are women. The average age is 26 and around a third are under 21.
The typical alleged Islamic State adherent is intent on fighting abroad rather than plotting attacks at home, research shows.
The Center classifies more than half arrested of those and charged as “foreign fighters/ aspirants”, around a quarter are “domestic plotters” and about one-fifth are “facilitators”. But other demographic patterns are hard to discern, with occupations ranging from soldier to student.
“They are young, they are spread over a wide geography, they are impervious to profiling in many ways,” said Karen Greenberg, director of the center, who has tallied cases dating back to March 2014 when Isis made massive territorial gains in Iraq.
The current political rush to suspend America’s asylum programme is “misguided”, she added, noting that the overwhelming majority of refugees are grateful for the way they are treated. “We have tremendous border controls in this country. We’ve spent 14 years and almost a trillion dollars on our security industry. We’re pretty good at vetting them, despite what Marco Rubio says.
“Law enforcement is being very careful about these arrests. They really don’t see a great domestic terrorism threat here. Of course we know that anything could happen but, compared to abroad, the terrorism threat is really quite low.”
This is reflected in relatively short sentences, Greenberg continued, indicating that judges regard those convicted as young people in need of “diversion” rather than hardened terrorists posing a serious threat.
There is “a difference in tenor and tone”, she added, from the post-9/11 decade when the FBI was accused of using entrapment to link people to the al-Qaida terrorist network. “You always have to be vigilant. There are a couple of cases where there has been concern.
“But generally they’re more like deterrent cases. It’s no longer about trying to see how far you will go. It’s more, ‘You’re 16, we don’t want to know how far you will go.’”
Nevertheless, concerns persist that young people who make rash statements on social media can be lured by undercover government agents posing as Isis into saying or doing things they would not have otherwise, landing them in trouble.
In March the New Yorker magazine highlighted the case of Jonas and Hasan Edmonds, cousins from Aurora, Illinois, charged with conspiring to provide material support for Isis. After posting a pro-Isis video on his Facebook page, Hasan received a friend request from an undercover agent working for the FBI. He wrote to the agent about wanting to “bring the pain to them here”, maximising “damage and mayhem” and “something like the brother in Paris did” – a reference to the deadly attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
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