McCaul Statement on FBI Arrest of Three U.S.-Based ISIS Supporters

Statement

Today, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, released the following statement on the FBI's arrest of three Brooklyn men who were planning to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The men are charged with providing material support to ISIS:

Chairman McCaul: "This threat is precisely why my colleagues on the committee and I launched a bipartisan Task Force today. Americans are continuing to try to join and aid ISIS and more must be done to keep them off the battlefield. We must have a strategy to stop jihadists groups from recruiting them and to prevent those who have already traveled to join terrorists overseas from coming back and threatening our security. The Task Force will be working diligently to investigate this growing threat and ways we can deter and disrupt terror travel in the near term."

This morning, Chairman McCaul and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security, announced the creation of a bipartisan "Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel" in response to the threat from extremists fighting overseas and the danger they pose to the U.S. homeland.

Comprised of five Republicans and three Democrats, the Task Force will assess the U.S. government's efforts to obstruct terrorist travel and to keep violent extremists from entering the United States. The Task Force will meet with government agencies, top officials, outside experts, and others to generate policy solutions and develop legislative recommendations to mitigate the threat.

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