Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is asking top officials in President Joe Biden’s administration to disclose how many Afghans seeking entry to the United States have been found on the government’s “No Fly List” and the number of Afghans being held in federal custody after having been flagged as security risks.
In a letter to top officials, including Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Grassley is asking that the administration share the number of Afghans with ties to terrorism, the Taliban, the Islamic State (ISIS), and Al Queda who have sought entry to the U.S. as part of Biden’s massive resettlement operation out of Afghanistan.
Grassley asks in the letter:
How were the identities of SIV applicants, their derivatives, and other Afghans verified at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) before allowing them to board evacuation flights? [Emphasis added]
…
Can you please describe how the U.S. government is handling cases of Afghan evacuees who are unable to clear the security screening and/or SIV process after being evacuated? What process has been established to deal with such cases? [Emphasis added]
…How many individuals on the U.S. no-fly list attempted to board evacuation flights out of Afghanistan? How many successfully gained access to an evacuation flight? [Emphasis added]
How many evacuees have been flagged during the vetting and security screening process as potential security concerns or risks? How many evacuees is the U.S. government currently detaining as potential security concerns or risks? [Emphasis added]
What was the rationale for the State Department’s apparent decision to transmit a generic visa document to thousands of American citizens and SIV applicants in Afghanistan? Can you please provide a thorough explanation of what specific groups of individuals actually received it and what procedures were put in place to ensure that bad actors were not able to utilize the document to gain access to HKIA or evacuation flights? [Emphasis added]
The Bloomberg piece referenced above also stated that the FBI and state and local law enforcement might be required to keep tabs on resettled evacuees who present “ongoing security concerns.” Does the Administration, in fact, intend to resettle evacuees in the United States who present any form of “ongoing security concern?” [Emphasis added]
Grassley is asking for answers from administration officials by September 7.
The Washington Times‘ Stephen Dinan reported this week that the Biden administration flew a convicted Afghan rapist, deported by former President Trump’s administration, back to the U.S. on an evacuation flight before realizing he had a criminal record.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that the Biden administration has brought Afghans to the U.S. who were later “flagged for security concerns.” Likewise, administration officials told CNN that Afghans are arriving in the U.S. who do not have any “documents whatsoever.”
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby has said he does not know the number of Afghans who have sought resettlement in the U.S. but subsequently were found to have been on terrorist watch lists.
Pentagon officials have told Defense One that “up to 100 of the 7,000 Afghans evacuated as prospective recipients” of Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) seeking permanent resettlement in the U.S. have been “flagged” as “potential matches to intelligence agency watch lists.”
“There’s certainly been a number of them,” an official said of the Afghans flagged as possible matches for individuals listed on terrorist watch lists.
At least one of those Afghans seeking an SIV to enter the U.S. has been detained in Qatar after officials said his background revealed possible ties to the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization.
NBC News revealed last week that in at least five cases at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghans have attempted to board U.S.-bound flights using fraudulent American passports that do not belong to them.
“The U.S. mission team reported at least five cases of Afghans who presented U.S. passports that didn’t belong to them … highlighting fraud concerns and complicating the process of screening people to enter the airport,” the NBC News report stated.
Though Biden has touted that Afghans are being screened at U.S. Military bases abroad, he has ignored that they are also being flown to the U.S. before having completed their visa processing. Specifically, Afghans are being sent to Fort Bliss in Texas, Fort Lee in Virginia, Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, and Fort Dix in New Jersey, to continue their processing.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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