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  • 2017-07-19 (xsd:date)
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  • Did President Trump Send Feds to Raid Islamberg, New York? (en)
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  • On 18 July 2017, the Freedom Daily blog published an article with a terrifying sounding title: Trump Sends Feds In To Raid NY’s Islamberg After 2 DECADES – Uncover America’s WORST Nightmare. The page gained traction on social media thanks to its alarmist headline, but the text made no mention of President Trump or the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Instead, it contained a number of wild claims framed as rumors, most of which centered around the June 2017 arrest of a local resident on firearms charges: The article continued with its editorializing and repetition (nothing short of chilling), finally concluding: Islamberg, which is a small New York town inhabited by a few dozen Muslim families, has had a peaceful history since it was first founded in the 1980s by a group of people hoping to escape the crime and poverty that riddled Brooklyn at that time. However, it has been the subject of numerous threats, including a planned attack in 2015 by a one-time congressional candidate. The piece itself appears to be mostly about Ramadan Abdullah, a 64-year-old man who was indicted in July 2017 after an investigation into his alleged theft of four boxes of ammunition uncovered a storage locker filled with powerful weapons in the town of Union. A 14 June 2017 article reported: Despite the fact that the Freedom Daily blog was clearly trying to use Abdullah's case as proof that Islamberg, New York, is a hotbed of terrorism training camps and militant leanings, it omitted an important detail: The weapons cache uncovered by police was not actually in Islamberg. The location of the investigation was provided as the town of Union and Broome County New York, while Islamberg is in the town of Tompkins in Delaware County, nearly an hour away by car: Geography made Freedom Daily's claim that President Trump ordered a federal raid on Islamberg, New York implausible at best. We contacted the Delaware County Sheriff's Office in an attempt to corroborate the claim. The office was familiar with the article and told us that there was absolutely no truth to its headline or claims. Similarly, New York State police were unaware of any connection. Although Abdullah was arrested on weapons charges in June 2017, the relevant events (such as the incident, searches, and indictment) occurred in a jurisdiction nearly an hour from Islamberg. No federal raid was conducted on the orders of President Trump or anywhere else. A search of news articles about Islamberg returned reports only about violent threats made toward Islamberg (not by anyone living there); credible violent threats toward the hamlet (including several threats and a planned anti-Islamberg rally just before this story appeared, as if to justify them) appear to be rather common. (en)
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