FBI Foils Alleged Halloween Terror Plot, Arrests Multiple Suspects in Michigan

The operation came amid a sharp rise in domestic terrorism investigations across the United States.

An FBI agent enters a home in a Dearborn, Mich., neighborhood on Oct. 31, 2025. Mike Householder/AP Photo

The FBI prevented a potential terrorist attack over Halloween weekend and arrested multiple suspects in Michigan, FBI Director Kash Patel said on Oct. 31.

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.”

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.”

According to Patel, the FBI has seen a 300 percent increase in cases opened in 2025 from the same period last year. He also referenced the rise of the “764” group, a decentralized online network of extremists targeting young people.

“We’re going after the new form of what I refer to as modern-day terrorism in America: 764 crimes that involve harming our children by going after them online, causing self-mutilation, suicide, sexual abuse, and steering them in the wrong direction,” Patel said.

Patel’s testimony in September marked his first oversight hearing since taking over as FBI director, amid growing public concern about rising political and extremist violence across the United States.