One major concern voiced about the wave of migrants fleeing war-torn Middle Eastern and African countries for Europe is that ISIS or some other terrorist group will embed their own among the refugees in order to wreak havoc abroad. Certainly not impossible, but it seems a needlessly complicated, roundabout method. Kim Hjelmgaard, a USA Today world reporter, who just spent ten days with the exiles, speaks to this issue in a Reddit AMA. The exchange:

Question:

Lots of media around the world are reporting that people are afraid that some of the migrants are in fact, infiltrate terrorists… What do you think about this and do you think there is enough security to filtrate these fears?

Kim Hjelmgaard:

I have read these stories as well and it would be wrong to just dismiss these concerns. What I would say is that I did not, myself, witness any people or behavior that gave me cause for alarm. That is not the same thing as saying there aren’t bad eggs around and about. There are bad eggs everywhere. If someone from the Islamic State wanted to infiltrate Europe from Syria they would probably just fly from Turkey to a major European city. I may be wrong but I can’t see why they would go this route when there are so many others that would probably be open to them. This is also not the same thing as refuting the idea that people can become radicalized after they arrive somewhere. Bu they can also be radicalized by not going anywhere as so-called homegrown attacks have shown.•