'Ready to die for the Caliphate': 22-year-old arrested for attempt to join ISIS in U.S.

Attempts to join ISIS

22-year-old Ali Saleh faces 20 years behind bars after openly trying to join the Islamic State and supporting them through different mediums, including social media.

Federal agents said the man from Queens, New York tried to travel to the Middle East several times to join the terrorist organization. He reportedly offered a jihadist recruiter help to get people to Libya.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - The Daily Mail reported New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton saying, "By his own words, Ali Saleh was willing to pledge allegiance to, and die for ISIL, an organization that has called for terrorist attacks against the United States. Saleh's attempts to travel to Syria and ISIL's battlefields were halted by good intelligence and smart law enforcement."  

The FBI reported Saleh had made at least five attempts to get to the Middle East and described his attempts as relentless. Saleh made contact with ISIS recruiters and asked how to join the group, which led to his arrest on September 17. He was charged with terrorism offenses and if he is convicted will end up with 20 years prison time. 

Saleh tried to fly to Turkey last year but was discovered at the New York airport when security found a tweet saying, "I'm ready to die for the Caliphate, prison is nothing."

After being denied a flight, he tried again 11 months later. He attempted to catch a plane from JRK to Cairo but investigators said he accessed his Twitter account again to contact an ISIS recruiter and offered to help people cross the border to join terrorists in Libya. 

Again, he was stopped by airline stewards who told him he was not permitted to fly. The next day he went to Newark Liberty International Airport, in New Jersey and Philadelphia International Airport in an attempt to find a flight to the Middle East. 

When he failed to procure a flight, he attempted to board an Amtrak train to Toronto, where he was stopped again. 

FBI documents record Saleh telling investigators that he would have continued trying to reach the Middle East if he hadn't been caught.

Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly Currie said, "Saleh was relentless in his attempts to travel to the Middle East to join a terrorist organization. We will continue to track down and prosecute individuals like Saleh before they are able to harm the United States and its allies."

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