A Suspected ISIS Member Illegally Crossed the Border and Lived in the U.S. for Two Years

A suspected member of the terrorist group ISIS was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after living in the states for two years after he illegally cross the border in 2022.

The man, 33-year-old Jovokhir Attoev, crossed into Arizona and was apprehended by Border Patrol agents in February 2022, according to NBC News. At the time, U.S. officials could not find any “derogatory information” on Attoev. He was then released inside the U.S. on bond.

In May 2023, Uzbekistan put out a notice that Attoev was wanted in his home country for being affiliated with ISIS.

In March 2024, U.S. government officials were reviewing Attoev’s application for asylum when they discovered the international notice from Uzbekistan. From there, officials connected it with a man living in Maryland.

Attoev was arrested on April 17 in Baltimore and is in custody in Pennsylvania (via NBC News):

Multiple former Department of Homeland Security officials interviewed by NBC News said the case raises concerns about how quickly and frequently the U.S. can do follow-up vetting on migrants who have already crossed the border.
While no derogatory information existed on Attoev at the time he crossed the border in 2022, the notice from the Uzbek government in 2023 was not initially checked against the list of immigrants living in the U.S. and awaiting court hearings.

“Since the beginning of the fiscal year 2021, 331 known or suspected terrorists have been caught crossing the southern border,” Roy said. “The fact is, there is an increasing number of known individuals affiliated with dangerous groups across this world that are flooding into the United States because this administration refuses to carry out its constitutional duty to maintain operational control of the border.”