The arrests of a young Mississippi couple who planned to travel to Syria and join the Islamic State's fighters underscores the need for continued surveillance in the nation's communities, House Homeland Security Committee member Peter King said Wednesday.
"People need to cooperate with law enforcement, the FBI, the police, particularly in the Muslim community, because that is where the threat is coming from," the New York Republican told
Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program. "We have to still have extensive research to see who is being recruited overseas, but it is important to go out in the community with outreach and there has to be cooperation."
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Over the weekend, Jaelyn Delshaun Young, 20, and Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla, 22, were arrested at Golden Triangle Regional Airport in Columbus, Miss., and are facing charges of conspiring and attempting to provide support and resources to ISIS,
reports CNN.
The married couple had allegedly exchanged social media messages with undercover FBI agents over several months, in which they described their skills and plans to come to Syria through Europe, where they would be honeymooning.
"If people in the community see anything, they should notify local law enforcement and the FBI to make sure this is known," King told Fox News. "Again, you have a case in Mississippi and another in New Jersey, which is the sixth case in the last four or five weeks in the New York-New Jersey area of ISIS people being arrested. This is a real threat."
The Republican lawmaker said that of all the GOP presidential candidates, he believes Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has the best chances of defeating ISIS if elected, but he thinks former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is also "very good."
"Rubio realizes the importance of identifying the Islamic threat, realizes the importance of maintaining the NSA, CIA, and FBI and agencies working with the local police like the NYPD," said King.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who has fought against continuing the Patriot Act's phone surveillance program, would be "the worst" when it comes to fighting ISIS, but New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was "very effective" while arguing with Paul about the need for surveillance.
He does agree with Donald Trump's call to stop ISIS' flow of money, but there are many ways to do that in addition to cutting off the terrorist group's supply of oil, a major source of its financing.
"Whether it is robbing banks or selling oil on the black market, ISIS has access to funding," said King. "They are running a nation state basically. This is the first terrorist group to be running their own caliphate. They have a land mass larger than the state of Indiana and larger than Great Britain, and they need money to fund that."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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