File: The seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seen outside of its headquarters in Washington, DC on August 15, 2022. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Eight Tajikistan nationals with ties to ISIS were busted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Joint Terrorism Task Force in three major cities, a federal source confirmed to Fox News.
The arrests took place in New York City, Los Angeles and Philadelphia in recent days, according to the source.
All eight Tajikistan nationals crossed the U.S. southern border illegally, and according to a federal source familiar with the sting, no derogatory information was initially flagged with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) during processing.
The suspected terrorists were "fully vetted" and nothing was flagged, according to Fox News' federal source.
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File: A law enforcement officer walks past the ICE logo ahead of a press conference on Thursday, May 11, 2017, at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in Washington, DC. (Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Imag …
Fox News’ source said after the suspected terrorists were released into the U.S., derogatory information was flagged with national security concerns, including the individual’s ties to ISIS.
The sting operation was first reported by the New York Post’s Jennie Taer.
According to Taer's report, part of the investigation featured a wiretap which revealed one of the now-arrested individuals was talking about bombs.
"Remember the Boston marathon [bombing]? I’m afraid something like that might happen again or worse," one of the sources told The Post.
When contacted about the report by Fox News, the FBI and ICE sent a joint statement:
This all comes as FBI Director Christopher Wray told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee last week that there is an increasing concern of a potential coordinated attack in the U.S., similar to the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) attack in March at a concert hall in Russia.
Wray told members of the subcommittee that when he met with them last year, he walked them through how the U.S. was already in a heightened threat environment, and since then, threats from foreign terrorists have risen to another level.
"Just in the time that I’ve been FBI director, we’ve disrupted multiple terrorist attacks and cities and communities around the country. We need funding to continue protecting America from terrorism," Wray previously said.
Wray warned the subcommittee that if Congress cuts their budget, it will have "very significant" consequences as the FBI would not be able to fill nearly 1,000 positions, meaning efforts to protect Americans from terrorism would fall short.
"That’s fewer tips and leads followed; fewer terrorist attacks detected. That’s a significant concern in a heightened terrorist threat environment," Wray said. "It helps out the terrorists, the cartels, the violent gangs, the Chinese government, the hackers, the child predators. I can go on and on."
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Wray was asked how the FBI prioritizes its resources to be able to protect communities from the various threats, and he pinpointed one major concern that drives all prioritization.
"Terrorism, which includes both foreign terrorism and domestic terrorism, remains our number one priority," Wray said.
Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
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