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President Joe Biden’s State Department failed to properly vet thousands of Afghan refugees after they fled the Taliban and sought asylum in the US - with at least two potential terrorism connections being missed, a new bombshell report has found.
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report → see → US
A review of 678 random asylum applications in the wake of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 found that 40 percent of the files were riddled with errors, according to the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security's report published on Monday.
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percent → find → Monday
The audit of applications also found that the Biden administration repeatedly failed to identify aliases in an oversight that could have allowed dangerous individuals to slip through the cracks.
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individuals → find → cracks
Asylum officers failed to enter aliases in 25 percent of the files, with 303 missed aliases in all, the heavily-redacted report found.
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report → fail → all
The report also identified 23 files that were missing security checks, 45 ‘unresolved' records and 115 other documentation issues.
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that → identify → checks
‘Most errors resulted from missed aliases or incomplete documentation, including two cases related to potential inadmissibility on terrorism-related grounds,’ the report revealed.
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report → result → grounds
’Some errors resulted from an asylum officer not identifying a spelling variation of a name or not reprinting and adding a document to the [asylum] file.
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officer → result → file
The report took aim at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversaw the process, citing them for 'missed opportunities’ to link applicants to ‘derogatory information.’
Hundreds of Afghan refugees are pictured crammed onto a US military aircraft after the collapse of the government in August 2021
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Hundreds → take → August
Some of the errors we identified in the adjudication process could negatively impact the integrity of the [asylum] files, which USCIS relies on for future immigration administration and enforcement activities,’ the watchdog found.
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watchdog → identify → activities
The IG initiated the review based on complaints about a class-action settlement in 2023 that sped up the asylum process for 20,000 Afghan evacuees.
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that → initiate → evacuees
USCIS employees had worried that the agreement - for 90 percent of the asylum cases to be decided within 150 days - would undercut supervisory review.
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percent → worry → review
The report, however, found no evidence the settlement made the problem worse.
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problem → find → evidence
The IG examined 678 of the 13,682 files for Afghans resettled under 'Operation Allies Welcome,’ the program initiated by the Biden administration in 2021 to assist Afghans after the US military withdrawal.
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IG → examine → withdrawal
The program involved roughly 97,000 evacuees.
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program → involve → evacuees
Lawmakers were quick to raise alarms about the potential national security threat posed by refugees from a country now run by the Taliban.
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Lawmakers → raise → Taliban
Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) lashed out at the Biden administration for ‘failure to properly vet Afghan refugees’ citing the ‘improper classification of security risk data with respect to evacuees.’
Afghan people climb atop a plane as they waited at Kabul's airport in August 2021 - desperate to flee the Taliban after the government collapsed
Republicans have long warned of the dangers, noting the 2024 arrest of 27-year-old Afghan refugee Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi (above) in Oklahoma for plotting an Election Day terrorist attack
Last year, DHS provided the senator with data showing ‘potential derogatory information’ on nearly 7,000 people from Afghanistan, with 5,005 presenting a national security concern, the New York Post reported at the time.
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Post → lash → time
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national, was arrested last year for allegedly shooting two National Guard troops near the White House, killing one of them
Grassley and others have cited several examples of the danger, including the 2024 arrest of 27-year-old Afghan refugee Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi in Oklahoma, for plotting an Election Day terrorist attack, and the 2025 shooting of two National Guardsmen, one fatally, near the White House.
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Grassley → arrest → House
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who had worked for the CIA, was identified as the suspect.
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who → work → suspect
Still, then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended Operation Allies Welcome, insisting in 2021 that the government had ‘established a robust screening and vetting architecture.
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government → defend → architecture
In 2024, the IG had issued another report calling out the ‘Fragmented Process for Identifying and Resolving Derogatory Information for Operation Allies Welcome Parolees.’
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IG → issue → Parolees
The new report, released Monday, found that the mistakes weren’t just a matter of carelessness, stating officers ‘may be unable to entirely avoid missed aliases’ given tight deadlines and the complex subjects, citing one file with 124 aliases.
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officers → release → aliases
Refugees arrive at Dulles International Airport in Virginia after being evacuated from Kabul following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan back in 2021
Then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, pictured in 2021 giving a briefing on the effort to resettle vulnerable Afghans in the United States, insisted the government had ‘established a robust screening and vetting architecture'
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government → arrive → architecture
Security checks with common names such as Mohammad can return over 1,000 potential matches.
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checks → return → matches
Meanwhile, USCIS flagged at least eight files where social media was labeled ‘derogatory’ or ‘of interest,’ but did not follow up.
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media → flag → interest
USCIS, speaking with IG investigators as they performed their review, blamed this on ambiguous guidelines.
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they → speak → guidelines
In its report, the IG made five recommendations and stated that USCIS had agreed to all of them, including setting a benchmark error rate, improving how aliases are identified and recorded, ensuring security checks are finished before a case is administratively closed, and documenting how officers deal with social media discoveries.
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officers → make → discoveries
The Aporia
