The operation came amid a sharp rise in domestic terrorism investigations across the United States.
The FBI prevented a potential terrorist attack over Halloween weekend and arrested multiple suspects in Michigan, FBI Director Kash Patel said on Oct. 31.
This morning the FBI thwarted a potential terrorist attack and arrested multiple subjects in Michigan who were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend. More details to come. Thanks to the men and women of FBI and law enforcement everywhere standing guard 24/7…
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) October 31, 2025
The suspects, according to Patel, were “allegedly plotting a violent attack.”
“This morning the FBI thwarted a potential terrorist attack and arrested multiple subjects in Michigan who were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend. More details to come,” Patel said in an X post on Friday. “Thanks to the men and women of FBI and law enforcement everywhere standing guard 24/7 and crushing our mission to defend the homeland.”
He offered no further details on the plot or the suspects.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino shared Patel’s post and said, “Protect the Homeland.”
Earlier on Friday, Bongino had also reaffirmed the bureau’s commitment to national security, writing in an X post, “Protecting the Homeland is our top priority. We will not rest.”
Protecting the Homeland is our top priority.
— Dan Bongino (@FBIDDBongino) October 31, 2025
We will not rest.
Local authorities in Michigan confirmed that federal agents had been active in the area. Police in Dearborn, Michigan, a city outside Detroit, said the FBI carried out an operation there on Friday morning.
“The Dearborn Police Department has been made aware that the FBI conducted operations in the City of Dearborn earlier this morning,” the force said on its Facebook page. “We want to assure our residents that there is no threat to the community at this time.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the FBI for further comment, but didn’t receive a response by the time of publication.
Patel’s announcement comes as the bureau continues to confront both domestic threats and threats from abroad. During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month, he said that the FBI is currently investigating more than 1,700 domestic terrorism cases nationwide.
“We have 3,500 international terrorism investigations,” he said. “Specifically, we have in this country 1,700 domestic terrorism investigations, a large chunk of which are nihilistic violent extremism (NVE), those who engage in violent acts motivated by a deep hatred of society, whatever that justification they see it is.”
