Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General (IG) have sounded the alarm about inadequate vetting procedures surrounding President Joe Biden’s mass relocation of Afghans across the U.S., who are considered by some to be a “national security concern.”
Grassley, letter The report called on Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray to release information about the number of Afghans brought to the U.S. by the Biden administration in 2021 who have not been properly vetted and may pose a national security threat.
“Please detail the steps the FBI has taken to monitor displaced Afghan citizens who it believes pose significant or potentially significant national security concerns,” Senator Grassley said. request:
Of the Afghan displaced persons considered to be of national security concern, how many are currently in the U.S., and does the FBI know where they are?
How many of the Afghans displaced who were deemed to be of national security concern have been allowed in and are no longer considered a concern?
WATCH: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admits to botched vetting of Afghan migrants:
C-SPAN
Grassley was referring to a Department of Homeland Security inspector general report that detailed serious failures in vetting Afghans who were subsequently resettled across the United States and later convicted of crimes including sexual assault, indecent assault and child sex offenses.
“Unfortunately, this report confirms concerns that I and my colleagues have previously expressed – that the Biden Administration has failed to adequately vet displaced Afghan refugees,” Grassley wrote.
in particular, The report noted that the Department of Homeland Security has a “fragmented process for identifying and resolving problems involving aliens with adverse information, including Operation Arise Welcome parolees.” Moreover, DHS’s approach “creates potential gaps in the responsibilities of CBP, USCIS, and ICE for revoking parole, initiating removal proceedings, and monitoring parole expiration.” [Emphasis added]
The report also states: The FBI’s refusal to provide U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) with full access to the National Crime Information Center Interstate Identification Index (Triple-I) systemThe denials were made because “the FBI does not view USCIS as a criminal justice agency and views immigration and naturalization matters as non-criminal justice matters,” according to the DHS OIG report. OAW parolees “have subsequently been convicted of crimes including sexual abuse of minors, indecent assault, sexual assault, motor vehicle theft, assault and battery.” The Biden Administration’s failure to properly vet evacuees, along with its simultaneous failure to provide the FBI full access to the Triple I system, is putting American communities at risk. [Emphasis added]
Video: Pentagon officials admit they did not do enough to check the identities of Afghans boarding planes:
Grassley gave Mayorkas and Wray until July 9 to respond to his request.
A massive resettlement operation brought nearly 100,000 Afghans into American communities within a few months, many of them never being interviewed in person.
Since Afghans began arriving at Dulles International Airport in 2021, resettlement efforts have been plagued by reports of screening failures.
In April 2023, a former Department of Defense (DOD) official revealed to Congress that some Afghans had been resettled in the United States before they were found to have been involved in planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan.
In 2021, Senator Grassley requested information about the number of Afghans on the federal “no-fly list” seeking entry into the United States due to ties to Islamic terrorism, though senior Biden administration agency officials have refused to release the total number.
In September 2022, the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general released a shocking report detailing how the Biden administration had brought Afghans into the United States who had “not been adequately vetted” and who “may pose a risk to national security.”
Similarly, in February 2022, a Defense Department inspector general report found that Biden administration agencies were not properly vetting Afghans arriving in the U.S., with roughly 50 Afghans flagged as having “significant security concerns” after being resettled.
WATCH: Secretary of State Blinken: Most Afghans Aren’t Screened Before Boarding Planes:
According to a Defense Department inspector general report, most Afghans who were flagged for possible terrorism ties and who did not undergo background checks have since disappeared into American communities. The report noted that as of Sept. 17, 2021, only three of the 31 Afghans flagged with specific “derogatory information” had been located.
In August 2022, Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) detailed a whistleblower complaint alleging that the Biden administration knowingly resettled to the U.S. about 400 Afghan nationals who were listed as “potential threats” in a federal database, prompting officials to cut corners in the vetting process.
In May 2022, a Project Veritas report alleged that the Biden administration had resettled Afghan nationals on the federal government’s “terrorism watch list” into American communities.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter. here.
