In case you missed it, three men in Kansas were charged on Friday for plotting a domestic terrorist attack on Somali immigrants.
The three men appeared in federal court this morning where a judge denied them release because they could pose be a threat to the community.
Prosecutors asked federal court Judge Gwynne Birzer on Monday to order Curtis Allen, Patrick Stein and Gavin Wright to remain in jail for the duration of their cases, saying their freedom would pose a risk to the community. [...]
The men each are charged with one count of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction. Their attorneys declined to comment on the allegations immediately after Monday’s hearing.
While others have already pointed out that these men were avowed Trump supporters, I want to highlight another aspect of this case that may be overlooked.
These men allegedly spent months plotting to attack a Garden City apartment complex that primarily houses Somali immigrants who work at local meat processing plants.
Garden City itself is not a major city (population 26,000) nor is it even close to any major cities. The closest major city, if you could call it that, is Wichita, which is hours away. Immigrants moved to Garden City so they could work in the local factories where they produce products that their would-be attackers have probably consumed at home.
These innocent, tax-paying immigrants, who contribute to the community and economy through their labor, were targeted for no other reason than being black and Muslim. The white men who targeted them enjoyed the fruits of their relatively obscure labor (in the form of cheap, processed meat) in a remote corner of the country where they posed absolutely no risk to anyone except maybe rival frozen chicken producers.
According to the Wichita Eagle, as many 50 children call the targeted apartment complex home and many of their parents work for Tyson Foods.
If not for an unnamed informant and the girlfriend of one of the alleged plotters, it's possible they may have been able to launch their attack. Curtis Allen was arrested last week for domestic battery for allegedly beating his girlfriend. She showed officers who responded to her report the room where Allen was making explosives.