Texas Man Arrested for ISIS Ties

The FBI arrested a 37-year-old, Iraq-born man who allegedly pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Dallas on Thursday. Bilal Abood, a naturalized U.S. citizen who came to America in 2009, was charged with lying to federal authorities for his attempt to leave the country in March 2013. When asked by authorities if he was leaving to travel to Syria to fight, Abood "stated that was not his intent," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Later in the interview, Abood admitted he was intending to go to Syria and again traveled abroad via Mexico a month later. Authorities later discovered Abood pledged an oath to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2014 and had been promoting ISIS content through his Twitter account. If found guilty, Abood faces eight years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.