Federal prosecutors say an 18-year-old from suburban Denver who allegedly planned to go to Iraq to fight for the Islamic State group has been arrested as he tried to board a flight to Turkey.

An 18-year-old from suburban Denver who allegedly planned to go to Iraq to fight for the Islamic State group was arrested last week as he tried to board a flight to Turkey.

  • Melody Fwygon@lemmy.one
    125·
    1 year ago

    uhhhhhmmmmm…

    Since when did it become a crime to simultaneously:

    • Worship controversial religions
    • Board a plane
    • Go to another country

    oh…wait. The PATRIOT ACT. 🤦

    This violates the kid’s rights; but at the same time probably saved his life. I doubt he’d live long in Iraq.

    • Dark Arc@lemmy.world
      12·
      1 year ago

      Except that’s not why this is a crime. You can do that all day everyday. This is a crime because of his intent to fight for what’s in effect a hostile foreign terrorist organization.

    • Melody Fwygon@lemmy.one
      169·
      1 year ago

      The document noted that Meyer had previously undergone mental health treatment and has been diagnosed with […] mental health conditions. […]

      Oh; so he was not only disabled but…

      Soon after he turned 18 in November, Meyer began communicating online with someone he thought was an Islamic State facilitator but was actually a paid FBI informant, the document said. The following month, that person introduced Meyer to another informant who claimed to be an Islamic State travel facilitator, who met with Meyer three times to talk about his plan to pay and prepare for traveling to join the Islamic State.

      They entrapped him.

      • brewdtype@lemmy.world
        111·
        1 year ago

        Asking in case I’m wrong: isn’t it only entrapment if the defendant wouldn’t have pursued the illegal action without the law enforcement playing a part? We can’t be sure from the details given, but by my understanding this would not qualify for entrapment if the accused sought out a contact with the Islamic State, but was funneled to the FBI agent instead, and they already expressed intent to join.

        • lps2
          111·
          1 year ago

          Correct, dude fell for a honeypot, he wasn’t coerced into it. No different than a police sting pretending to be a hooker and arresting a John

      • ickplant@lemmy.world
        112·
        1 year ago

        Where does it say he is disabled? I have adhd and bipolar, I’m not disabled, and it never occurred to me to join ISIS. My husband is autistic, and he never wanted to join a terrorist organization.

        Edit: He said he’d build a fertilizer bomb in the US if he couldn’t go to the Middle East. Not defensible, IMO.

    • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
      65·
      1 year ago

      I doubt he’d live long in Iraq

      With conditions in prisons being what they are in this country, his odds won’t be too much better there

      • ShakeThatYam@lemmy.world
        23·
        1 year ago

        The US has 1.2M incarcerated people. Around 6000 prisoners die in prison every year which gives prisoners a substantially lower mortality rate that the overall population.

    • ShakeThatYam@lemmy.world
      12·
      1 year ago

      Why don’t we just let him go and not let him back (or arrest him when he gets back if he is a US citizen)? If he wants to get killed in Iraq why are we stopping him?