Republican lawmakers have long sounded the alarm over allowing roughly 90,000 Afghans entry into the US through the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome.
The Afghan national suspected in the shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, DC was brought into the US through a Biden-era refugee program after the former president's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan that led to the death of 13 US military members. The same program is known to have given suspected terrorists protected status as refugees in the US.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, has been charged with shooting West Virginia National Guard troops Andrew Wolfe, 24, and Sarah Beckstrom, 20, in Washington, DC on Wednesday. The case is now under a terrorism investigation by the FBI. However, Republican lawmakers have long sounded the alarm over allowing roughly 90,000 Afghans entry into the US through the Biden administration's Operation Allies Welcome. Around 73,500 of those were given a two-year parole under Biden, and some were then given a two-year extension after that.
A report from the DOJ's Office of Inspector General found earlier this year that there were 55 Afghan evacuees that were also flagged as hits on the terrorism database. These 55 were encountered by US officials, and 21 of them were added to the database after they already gained entry into the US.
Sen. Chuck Grassley pointed out at the time, “I’ve sounded the alarm about the need to thoroughly vet Afghan evacuee applicants since August 2021. The Biden-Harris administration, my Democrat colleagues in Congress and many in the media were quick to dismiss glaring red flags that a nonpartisan national security analysis now confirms."
In July, Grassley also said that DNI Tulsi Gabbard had said that 1,600 Afghan evacuees “had links to terrorism or other derogatory information” as of 2022.
Under the Trump administration, temporary protected status for Afghan migrants was terminated in July, and the administration is now taking steps to review and re-interview those that came in under the previous administration.
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