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 Mohammed Hamzah Khan, 19, of the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook,
appeared before U.S. Magistrate Susan Cox in U.S. District Court in
Chicago, and she ordered him held pending a detention hearing on
Thursday.
Khan was arrested at the airport after he tried to fly to Istanbul
on Austrian Airlines, according to the criminal complaint against
him from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
Under questioning, he told federal agents he planned to meet a
contact in Turkey who would take him to ISIS, or Islamic State, and
he expected "to be involved in some type of public service, a police
force, humanitarian work, or a combat role."
In a search of his home, agents found notebooks in which he planned
the trip.
 Khan also left a note to his family that read in part: "I extend an
invitation, to my family, to join me in the Islamic State,"
according to the complaint. In the note, Khan wrote that he had an
obligation to migrate to territory controlled by the group and he
was upset he was obligated to pay taxes that would be used to kill
his Muslim brothers and sisters, it said.
The United States has been bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq
since August and in Syria since September and has been seeking to
build a wider coalition to destroy the group. Islamic State has
killed thousands and beheaded at least four American and British
captives while seizing parts of Syria and Iraq.
Islamic State is among groups fighting to overthrow the Syrian
government of President Bashar al-Assad as are other groups
including a U.S.-backed rebel force and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra
front.
U.S. officials say more than 100 U.S. citizens have made plans to
join extremist fighters in Iraq and Syria. Some have gone and come
back while others were caught before their departure in recent
stings by federal agents. A small number are dead or still fighting.
FBI Director James Comey estimates roughly a dozen Americans are
currently aiding ISIS.
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The United States has no specific law preventing individuals from
joining such groups, but it has anti-terrorism laws that it has used
to prosecute them.
If found guilty of attempting to provide material support to a
foreign terrorist organization, Khan faces a maximum of 15 years in
prison and a $250,000 fine.
The U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman said he could not say why the
agents became suspicious of Khan or how he may have been recruited
to join Islamic State.
U.S. officials keep a close eye on young people flying to Turkey,
which borders Syria, and a red flag in Khan's case may have been his
plans to fly to Istanbul for two nights then return.
(Additional reporting by Julia Edwards in Washington, D.C.; Editing
by Mohammad Zargham and Cynthia Osterman)
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