By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-12 17:21:43 | Updated at 2026-09-12 18:45:04
1 hour ago
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), together with local, state, and federal partners, has arrested 2,150 terrorists within the United States under the second Trump administration, according to the DHS secretary.
“Just in a short period of time underneath Trump’s leadership—2,150 terrorists,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in remarks commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, adding that those were not terrorists on watch lists, but were “known terrorists that were let into this country.”
“To live the American dream? No. Just like those that brought down our towers, they wanted to tear down the United States.”
The remarks were made at St. Elizabeths, the DHS headquarters in Washington, during the dedication of Resilience Plaza, which features several artifacts from Sept. 11, 2001.
The arrests of the known or suspected terrorists were made by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) between Jan. 20, 2025, and Sept. 9, 2026, the DHS said. Out of the more than 2,150 individuals, ICE has confirmed the deportation of 2,015 people from the United States.
One of the terrorists arrested and deported under the Trump administration is Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Alvarez was charged with being the leader of the failed terrorist plot that targeted the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Freedom 250 Fight
eventin June. The event was hosted at the White House in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.
Alvarez came to the United States with a B-2 visitor visa and did not exit the country prior to its expiry in December 2001. He was granted designation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) federal immigration program in 2014 by the Obama administration, ICE said.
Another arrested and deported terrorist is Felipe Linares De Oliveira Dell Aquilla, a Brazilian illegal immigrant. Aquilla was the former commander of Comando Vermelho and the Primeiro Comando da Capital, two groups that have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
Aquilla had entered the United States illegally. He was arrested in June while holding his wife hostage and seeking to escape to Mexico.
The 9/11 attacks killed 2,977 Americans and injured thousands more. In the aftermath, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 was signed into law, which instructed the creation of an agency focused on ensuring domestic security. Subsequently, the DHS was established in March 2003.
Terrorist Attacks
One of the recent cases involving terrorists is a failed ISIS-inspired bomb plot that
targetedthe New York State Capitol on Aug. 19. FBI agents had foiled the planned attack. On Aug. 20, Jessica Bowie, 35, of Albany, New York, was formally charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, according to the Department of Justice.
The plot allegedly aimed to destroy the Capitol building and kill state senators. Bowie is accused of having planned to escape to ISIS‑controlled territory in Syria after the attack.
In another incident, on Jan. 1, 2025, a man
killedover a dozen people by driving a truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street, New Orleans. The suspected attacker, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, from Texas, died in a shootout with police officers following the attack.
Meanwhile, the United States recently had its first-ever use of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to
deportan individual from the country.
The court was created in 1996, with the chief justice of the United States authorized to designate five district court judges to review applications that seek to remove immigrant terrorists from the country. However, since its creation, the court has remained unused until now.
On July 15, the Trump administration filed an application to remove Nazira Haji Zada, an Afghan national linked to terror activities. The court ordered her removal on Aug. 20. The Department of Justice announced in a Sept. 11 statement that Zada has been removed from the United States for her role in supporting an ISIS-inspired mass shooting plot on the 2024 Election Day.
“An individual who supported a plot by ISIS-sympathizing family members to commit an attack in America has paid the price for that,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in the statement. “She came to our country, betrayed it, and has now lost the right to live here and enjoy our democratic freedoms.”
