Mayorkas and McCaul warn of ISIS-inspired threats after New Orleans attack

Source: ABC News

January 5, 2025, 12:35 PM


Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned in an interview Sunday on ABC's "This Week" of a "very difficult threat landscape" in the wake of the New Orleans truck attack. And Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman emeritus of the House Homeland Security Committee, noted the resurgence in the Middle East of ISIS, the extremist group which the New Orleans suspect said he was inspired by.

Early New Year's Day, 14 people were killed and dozens more were injured after Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran drove a pickup truck through a crowd on New Orleans' Bourbon Street, authorities said. The suspect, a U.S.-born Army veteran from Texas, posted videos online before the deadly rampage "proclaiming his support for ISIS" and mentioning he joined ISIS before this summer, according to the FBI.

"We have not only the persistent threat of foreign terrorism -- that, of course, created the Department of Homeland Security -- but we have adverse nation-states, and for the past 10 years, we've seen a significant increase in what we term 'homegrown violent extremism,'" Mayorkas told anchor George Stephanopoulos. "It is a very difficult threat landscape, and it is why that we as a community -- not just the federal government, but state and local officials and residents -- need to be alert to it and take the precautions necessary to avoid violence from occurring."

Mayorkas said his office worked with local law enforcement and "took additional sweeping measures" to ensure New Orleans' annual Sugar Bowl college football game could safely go on after the attack.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/dhs-secretary-alejandro-mayorkas-warns-threats-after-new/story?id=117337324