Federal Law Enforcement officials sent out a warning across the country regarding a growing trend of boys and girls signing up to fight with the radical terrorist group, ISIS. This occurred after a 17-year-old boy from Northern Virginia was detained last week. There are cases popping up around the country that are garnering quite a bit of concern.
The warning states that the motivation for boys to join ISS stems from their desire to be a part of a foreign fighting group. Most of the girls are younger and seem to have a misconstrued idea of what life in Syria is, or they want to become Islamic brides.
The warning was issued after the Virginia student was charged with directly recruiting for ISIS. The teen’s name has not been released, but prosecutors are pushing for him to be prosecuted as an adult. Reports indicate that investigators spent a month watching and monitoring the teen at his home prior to the arrest. He has been accused of helping an adult travel to Syria to join ISIS and of distributing various ISIS messages to networks of individuals.
According to the teen’s former boss, he was an intelligent kid and wrote for a digital currency news website. He added that he did not seem at all radical. Federal law enforcement officers stated that the teen worked this job for a period of seven months prior to his arrest.
Federal law enforcement estimates that there have been over 20,000 foreigners who have traveled away from their home nations to fight along with ISIS, a radical Islamist group that controls parts of Syria and Iraq. James Clapper, the National Intelligence Director, reported that 180 Americans have been identified as trying to fight with ISIS in Syria, but it is not clear how many were actually attempting to join the organization.