Biden exempted nearly 7000 foreign nationals from terror-related entry restrictions into the US

Fox News obtained a draft of the agency’s FY 2024 report to Congress on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary’s application of his power to exempt foreign nationals from terrorism-related inadmissibility grounds (TRIG) that revealed there were 6,848 TRIG exemptions in FY 2024, 6,653 of which were for refugees.

The report doesn’t break down the number by country but the Biden previously increased the refugee cap from 18,000 set in the last year of the Trump administration to 125,000.

According to DHS reports, the number is much higher than the 2,085 in FY 2023. That year was higher than the 603 waivers distributed in FY 2022, 191 in FY 2021, and 361 in FY 2020.

Foreign nationals can be deemed inadmissible from entry into the US and for immigration benefits if they have associated with, supported, or worked with terrorist organizations, but the DHS secretary can exempt certain foreign nationals if they provided support under duress, provided medical care, or meet other standards for exemptions.

In 2022, Afghan evacuees who fled as the Taliban took control of the country in 2021 were exempted by DHS who worked as civil servants or individuals who provided "insignificant or certain limited material support" to a designated terror group. DHS included teachers, doctors, and engineers, as well as those who used their occupation to mitigate Taliban repression. That exemption came amid a mass evacuation effort of nationals from Afghanistan as the Taliban were taking over the country in 2021.

In FY24, only 29 waivers were provided for Afghan allies who supported US interests in Afghanistan, and 374 were for civil servants but 3,134 were for those who provided certain limited support or insignificant material support to a Tier I or Tier II terror organization. This is despite the report claiming "All applicants considered for exemptions were subject to a thorough and rigorous security vetting process.”

The majority of the remaining 2,946 exemptions were granted by DHS under a 2007 exercise of authority for support given under duress.

Former Trump DHS deputy assistant secretary and White House senior communications adviser Michael Bars told Fox News, "Joe Biden and his administration have viciously targeted parents at school board meetings, pro-life Americans, Catholics, and Trump supporters—designating some as 'domestic terrorists'—instead of catching actual terrorists and keeping them out of the country. In fact, they've been helping potential threats move in, waiving national security safeguards to admit individuals who've provided varying degrees of material support to Islamic terrorist organizations in extraordinary numbers.”

He added, "Islamic terrorism is not 'homegrown,' it's been imported to the U.S. through our broken immigration system and open border. The Biden administration has not only failed its duty to address this rising threat but precipitated it."