Jen Psaki claimed ALL Afghan refugees went through 'thorough screening'

When the Biden administration was conducting "Operation Allies Welcome" following the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki claimed that the administration was doing thorough vetting on all those coming to the US. Footage of the 2021 claim has resurfaced in the aftermath of the shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, DC, where the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, came to the US as a refugee during the operation.

"There are, of course, concerns of lawmakers, experts who have tracked this, saying previous arrivals of large numbers of refugees from different parts of the world, inevitably, there may be handful, small handful, who are eventually deemed a security risk of some kind. What reassurances can you make about the screening process and the attempts to make sure that somebody like that doesn't make his or her way here," a reporter asked.

Psaki responded at the time, "I can absolutely assure you that no one is coming into the United States of America who has not been through a thorough screening and background check process, and there are many individuals, as you noted, who have not been through that process, and they have gone to lily pad countries as that process has been completed. It doesn't mean that's because there is a flag. It means they have not completed their paperwork."

The clip from September 2021 has gone viral after Lakanwal has been charged with the murder of Sarah Beckstrom and has also been charged with shooting Andrew Wolfe, both West Virginia National Guard troops who were at their posts in Washington, DC when the incident took place. Beckstrom passed away on Thanksgiving, and Wolfe is still fighting for his life in the hospital.

In the aftermath of the shooting, reports concerning terrorist links to some Afghan refugees have also resurfaced, bringing into question the vetting of those that arrived in the US when the operation was conducted. President Donald Trump has ordered that immigration applications from Afghanistan be paused and that there be a review of those that came here under the Biden administration.