Despite claims by politicians, Muslim extremism is rare in the U.S.
Last year only 14 Muslim Americans were arrested for alleged involvement with violent extremism—and none of them entered the country illegally.
Two reports on extremist attacks in the United States document a marked decline in the number of Muslim Americans associated with extremist acts.
Extremists in the United States killed 50 people in 2018, according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. Only one of those attacks was perpetrated by someone linked to a radical Islamist group: Corey Johnson, 17, reportedly told investigators he attacked his friends, killing one, “because of his Muslim faith.” He had previously been tracked by law enforcement for fascination with Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.
The rest of the attacks were carried out by right-wing extremists of various ideologies, mostly white supremacists such as Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life–Or L’Simcha synagogue in October.
