The Biden administration’s Operation Welcoming Allies program facilitated the entry of Afghans into the U.S. A federal report highlighted several inaccuracies and a lack of monitoring for refugees, including the individual who reportedly shot at National Guardsmen.
These issues stemmed from a Department of Homeland Security inspector general’s report released last year, which criticized the system for documenting the arrivals of Afghans as flawed and filled with errors, complicating immigration officials’ efforts to verify “biographical and criminal history data.”
In certain instances, Afghans received multiple ID numbers or their names were spelled incorrectly.
“[Immigration] Officials must have accurate information about individuals to ensure the integrity of the adjudication and enforcement process,” the report indicates.
It emphasized that data inaccuracies can hinder USCIS and ICE staff from efficiently identifying individuals within the OAW (Operation Welcoming Allies) group and properly associating them with correct biographical and criminal information.
The findings also revealed that there was no established method to monitor when the parole status of Afghans expired after their arrival.
The report noted, “We found that DHS did not have a process for monitoring the parole deadlines of individual OAW parolees and had not designated a component to watch over their parole statuses. Officials from CBP, USCIS, and ICE all thought this was not their duty,” the report said.
This scrutiny arises following the confirmation that Rahmanullah Rakanwal, the individual accused of killing two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., was admitted to the U.S. under this program.
Rakanwal applied for asylum in December last year, with approval granted in April, according to officials from the Trump administration.
The official shared that the 29-year-old, residing in Washington state, had no criminal record.
This initiative under the Biden administration aimed to resettle numerous Afghans who aided the U.S. during the Afghanistan conflict and were at risk of retaliation after the Taliban regained control post-withdrawal.
The program enabled roughly 90,000 Afghans to qualify for special immigrant visas and offered immigration assistance.
In light of the shooting incident, President Trump mentioned that his administration would “re-test” all Afghans who entered the U.S. during Biden’s administration.
