Why Was This Man Out of Prison? Why Was This Man in the United States?

Amid the spate of jihad attacks around the United States over the last couple of weeks, one of the perpetrators stands out for the rest, not because he was more ruthless or brutal than the others, but because he epitomizes the abject failure of our immigration and law enforcement systems to deal adequately with the specter of jihad violence.

Mohamed Bailor Jalloh was born in Sierra Leone, and later became not only a naturalized U.S. citizen, but a member of the Army National Guard. He did so, as PJ’s Scott Pinsker notes acidly, because of what court records termed “a patriotic desire to give back to his adopted country."  

Yet his patriotism went only so far. USA Today reported Thursday that “in July 2016, the Justice Department announced that Jalloh was arrested for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State. About a month before his arrest, the department said Jalloh had traveled to North Carolina and made ‘multiple unsuccessful attempts to obtain firearms.’”

NBC News added that Jalloh wanted those weapons as part of a jihad plot to "murder US military personnel." He tried to “buy an AK-47, but the gun owner refused to sell it.” Then he succeeded in buying an AR-15 at a gun store, but the feds were on his trail: the day after he bought his gun, he was arrested. 

Jalloh also “attempted to provide funds to people hoping to join the Islamic State terrorist group, better known as ISIS.” And even that wasn’t all. Another aspect of his jihad plotting in 2016 involved an attempt to murder free-speech activist Pamela Geller.  

WND reported in July 2016 that according to an affidavit, “When discussing attack operations, JALLOH stated he knows such operations are ‘100 percent the right thing.’ JALLOH then asked if CHS1 ever thought about targeted operations (targeted killings). JALLOH then identified a person by name who had organized multiple Draw the Prophet Mohammad contests in the United States. JALLOH provided the general location for this individual and described this individual as ‘evil.’ JALLOH insinuated that this individual would be an ideal focus of a targeted attack because of his/her actions against the Prophet Mohammad.”

In addition to all this, Jalloh was also “focused on conducting a Fort Hood-style massacre against the United States armed forces,” which appears to be something like the attack he carried out on Thursday. He seems to have targeted his victims at Old Dominion University because of their link to the U.S. military: “The victims have not been identified. Two of them are members of the school’s ROTC program.”

The U.S. Army Cadet Command stated: “We can confirm that two members of the university ROTC program were shot and were taken to a local hospital to treat their injuries.” Also, “officials said Jalloh allegedly targeted an ROTC class and was a former member of the Army National Guard.” 

So why was Jalloh able to shoot people at Old Dominion University in 2026 at all, when ten years ago, he “pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. He was released in 2024, according to the Department of Justice.” He was released in December 2024, just eight years into his eleven-year sentence, and fifteen months before he returned to the jihad.

Related: A Taliban Shooting — in Utah?

Mohamed Jalloh was able to wage jihad at Old Dominion University because he was released early from prison, and not stripped of his citizenship and deported. When he opened fire at Old Dominion, he should have been back in his native Sierra Leone, or still in prison for his activity on behalf of ISIS in 2016.

Some aspects of this case are all too clear. One is that he became a citizen, but his Islamic beliefs overrode any loyalty he may have had to the United States. The time he spent in prison didn’t change his views. His early release didn’t soften his attitude toward the unbelievers. Will authorities review and revise the way they treat jihadi prisoners, and start active efforts to disabuse them of their jihadist views? Not a chance. That would be “Islamophobic.” 

Nevertheless, Mohamed Jalloh should never have been in the United States in 2026. His conviction of support for ISIS and his jihad plotting should have vacated his U.S. citizenship. But if patriotic lawmakers ever suggested such a thing, the hue and cry from leftists would be deafening. Evidently a healthy sense of self-preservation is also “Islamophobic.”