Almost all American citizens fighting for ISIS are unaccounted for.

An ISIS fighter from the Philippines captured in Syria. Fox News/AP

Almost all American citizens fighting for ISIS remain unaccounted for, raising concerns that they may return and commit terrorist attacks. Fox News. A new report from the Soufan Center says that as many as 129 US citizens left for Syria and Iraq to fight with ISIS and we only know the whereabouts of 7 who returned to the United States. Over 5,600 fighters have returned to their home countries, which is roughly 15% of ISIS's total strength. There are fears that American ISIS fighters could sneak back into the country through our porous borders. Many of the fighters have been killed but others still remain and those that were stopped in other countries before joining the fight are a major concern. All and all, over 300 Americans have joined the wars in Syria and Iraq with most of them joining ISIS but others fighting with non-terrorist groups like the Kurds. Further complicating things is the presence of women and children among the Americans who traveled to ISIS controlled territory. 

My Comment:

My initial thought is that the vast majority of the Americans who went to fight with ISIS are dead or will be so soon. ISIS has been hemorrhaging personal due to heavy amounts of attrition and our new strategy of cutting off fighters and then killing them. Foreign fighters are also a priority target, not only for the United States, but for practically every local force in the area as well. These foreign fighters were not even popular among ISIS, let alone the general populations of Iraq and Syria. Few will survive assuming any of them are even left at this point. 

Plus, ISIS has been cut off from the outside world for quite some time. Ever since Turkey closed their border with Syria and joined the war, ISIS hasn't been able to move people in or out of their Syrian and Iraqi holdings. I am sure there are still Americans left who want to escape but to do so would mean crossing dozens of miles, maybe even hundreds, just to make it to a place like Turkey. 

And even when they get there, it's not like they have an easy way back to the United States. Unlike Europeans or Africans, there isn't an easy land route to get to their home countries. Air travel is out because they are surely on a watchlist and they likely lost their passports and other documents. Keep in mind, many ISIS fighters burned their passports to show their commitment to the Caliphate. Sure they can forge or steal documents but that takes time and carries with it a major risk. Booking a berth on a ship might be the only way to sneak in and even that seems unlikely.  

Assuming they could cross the Atlantic Ocean, they would still have problems getting into the United States itself. The Fox News piece suggested that they could get through the Canadian or Mexican borders, but even with how unguarded those borders are it still seems unlikely that they would be able to get into those countries in the first place. It's not that Mexico and Canada have great border controls either but the Atlantic Ocean is really a huge hurdle to pass. 

Still, it's not like there isn't a real threat here. Even granting that getting to America would be difficult, it still is frightening how much damage even a handful of these people could be. Though we didn't have that many people join ISIS, all of them are extremely dangerous and if they were to come back they could cause some major terrorist attacks. These people are likely veterans and have been hardened by battle. They may have experience with small arms, explosives and just plain old murder. I have no doubt that if they can get here they could cause serious problems. 

I also think that the report was right in that people that wanted to join ISIS but were stopped before they could get their, either because a foreign government stopped them or because circumstances did, are a huge threat. Unlike the actual ISIS fighters, these guys might not be on the radar and would have an easier time getting back. And they might be looking for a fight after missing Iraq and Syria. 

Another question is what to do with these people when they do come back. Obviously joining ISIS is a very serious crime and we should throw the book at them. But I worry that sending them to prison could be dangerous as well. Keeping ISIS fighters in state or federal prisons has the potential to radicalize other prisoners which is not a good thing. My instinct would be to throw them into Guantanamo Bay but ISIS fighters might even be too hardcore for them to handle. After all, the last thing we need is to rile up the people kept there. 

We also have to wonder what to do with the women and children. I am fully in favor of locking up the women who joined ISIS and throwing away the key as they knew what they were doing and are responsible for their actions. They shouldn't get a pass for their gender and they should also be considered a major security threat. Even though ISIS didn't practice equality, I think we are better than that and we shouldn't be making excuses for any women that joined, just like we wouldn't for the men. They knew damn well what they were doing and should be held responsible. 

Children are a more difficult question. As children they are not fully responsible for their actions, and the younger ones had no choices at all, but we also have to realize that they are going to be ticking time bombs unless we can deprogram them somehow. I don't even know if such a thing is possible but we will probably try. 

Of course we might be making a mountain out of a molehill here. I don't think that many ISIS fighters are even going to survive the war. Most of them fight to the death and the few that don't aren't going to make it back here without a huge amount of skill and luck. We still have to worry about the possibility but I don't think it's all that different than the threat we have from homegrown terrorists. 

We are lucky that we have the Atlantic Ocean to protect us. What concerns me is that Europe and Africa do not have such a luxury. While our worries about ISIS returnees are minor, they are a huge threat to Europe and Africa. Those two continents also have to deal with returnees from other countries as well as local ISIS fighters fleeing as well. The massive refugee and migrant crisis that is consuming Europe provides perfect cover for terrorists to infiltrate. I fear that even as ISIS is defeated in Syria and Iraq, Africa and especially Europe could be the next battlefield.