Islamic State-Related Arrests In the U.S. In 2024
In light of the seemingly IS-related attack in New Orleans on New Years, it is worth exploring the type of arrests, including attack plots there were in the U.S. in the past year
There is still a lot to be learned about the car ramming attack in New Orleans. Therefore, this post is not going to speculate more than what is already stated publicly by the FBI. Rather, this post hopes to provide some context within the U.S domestic scene related to IS activity in the United States in the past year. To highlight that it is not necessarily surprising that a successful attack happened again. As will be shown below, there was a higher temp of attack plots again by IS in the U.S in 2024 compared with 2023.
Based on archiving and collection for my Islamic State Select Worldwide Activity Map, I was able to identify what types of arrest cases there were in the United States in the past year. In many ways, it shows that while there has not been a successful violent attack by an Islamic State supporter or member recently, it is not for a want of trying. Of the 14 IS-related arrests in the U.S. in 2024, 5 of them were attack plots. These plots attempted to target churches in Idaho, LGBTQ “establishments” in Philadelphia, Jewish centers/synagogues in New York City, election day voting locations in Oklahoma City, and a pride parade in Phoenix. Highlighting that these occurred not only in the populous coastal cities, but more medium-sized cities and rural areas in the U.S. As a way of comparison, there were only 9 IS-related arrests in the U.S. in 2023 and none of them were attack plots. This is not at all surprising considering 2024 saw an increase in external operations attack plots by IS globally, in part due to the campaign by the Islamic State’s Khurasan Province. However, we also saw plots/attacks from seven other IS provinces in 2024 too. Thus, the data in the United States tracks with what we also saw in Europe, Russia, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, etc. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise then that 2 of the 5 attack plots were ISKP-related. As for the other 9 arrests in the U.S. in 2024, they are related to foreign fighting abroad (2 - going to Somalia and Syria respectively), illegal immigration with an International notice (from Uzbekistan), repatriation from Syria, threats (2), financial support via crypto, online material support (2).
Below, you can find more specific details related to the 14 IS-related arrests in 2024. And if you’re interested in the full global picture of IS’s activity please check out my mapping project.
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