Reject extremism, Muslim youth told

U.S. intelligence and customs and immigration agents addressed a Muslim students’ conference Sunday to try to help prevent disaffected youth from being converted into radical Islamists.

Martin Ficke, special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York, said in an interview that U.S. officials were “very concerned” that an attack like the 2005 London train and bus bombings by four British Islamist youths could be repeated in the United States.

“If it happened in the U.K., it could happen here. I think we’d be naive if we didn’t think we might potentially have the same problems as they had,” Ficke said.

Ficke and Andrew Arena, special agent in charge of the FBI’s criminal division in New York, took part in a panel discussion at the first American Muslim Students Conference.

The conference was attended by several hundred Muslim high school and university students, who raised questions about whether U.S. authorities were targeting Muslims, a suggestion rejected by both Arena and Ficke.

“The youth are vulnerable with today’s Internet, with what’s going on in the community. They can potentially have access to people who would look to radicalize them,” Ficke said.

He said Muslim leaders had approached U.S. agents in New York soon after the London bombings to ask for advice on how they could avoid the extremism experienced in Britain.

British Muslim politician Shahid Malik told the students that it was the Muslim community’s responsibility to make sure extremism is not tolerated.

He said American Muslims had not experienced the kind of extremism seen in Britain. “America doesn’t know how good it’s got it,” he said.

The New York police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement both used the conference to try to recruit.