Josh Hawley demands Biden administration answer how hostage-taking terrorist got into the US

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley is calling the Biden administration to immediately recognize the attack on a Jewish synagogue in Colleyville, Texas as anti-Semitism – and for the administration to answer questions about how the hostage-taker was approved to enter the US despite having an extensive criminal record.

In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Hawley asked for transparency and a full explanation for how a suspected Islamic terrorist, Malik Faisal Akram, was allowed to enter the United States despite his extensive criminal record and "numerous red flags."

Sen. Hawley cited the Telegraph in its report that the British jihadist who carried out the terror attack at the synagogue was granted despite having a string of criminal convictions. As detailed by the publication, the suspected terrorist was once banned from his local magistrates’ court for ranting about the 9/11 attacks. He flew to New York at the end of December.

“Intelligence sources refused to confirm a report on Monday night that he had been on a terror watchlist,” the Telegraph reported. “Despite a series of ‘red flag warnings’ about his behavior, Akram was granted a tourist visa. He was able to travel from New York to Texas, where he bought a firearm and took three men hostage at a local synagogue.”

In his letter, Sen. Hawley writes that while the administration has refused to acknowledge it as an anti-Semitic attack, President Joe Biden “must do so immediately.”

“It is past time to begin conducting in-person vetting of immigrants to this country. That is what the 9/11 Commission report strongly recommended. It should now be clear that this is necessary to protect U.S. citizens from terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.”

“The hostage crisis this weekend was an anti-Semitic attack on the Jewish community in a house of worship,” Sen. Hawley wrote. “It was perpetrated by an Islamic terrorist who had a criminal history and yet was able to obtain a travel visa to the United States during the pandemic. On December 27, 2021, he traveled from the United Kingdom to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City, where he was welcomed into this country just weeks before the terrorist attack. But this all could have been averted if your Departments had adequately vetted his visa application and stopped him at the airport.”

“The failure to adequately vet those entering our country is nothing new,” he added. “The Biden Administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghans into the United States. We now know that these individuals were not adequately vetted and did not undergo in-person vetting, as recommended by the 9/11 Commission.”

“It is past time to begin conducting in-person vetting of immigrants to this country. That is what the 9/11 Commission report strongly recommended. It should now be clear that this is necessary to protect U.S. citizens from terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.”

Hawley called upon Blinken and Mayorkas to immediately rescind its policies eliminating in-person interviews for visa applicants, which were put in place last December.

The senator called on the administration to provide an answer by Jan. 21, 2022 whether the Islamic terrorist received an in-person interview before being permitted entry into the U.S., and whether federal agencies were aware of his extensive criminal record, and on what basis he was granted a travel visa.