by Eric Lendrum
On Tuesday, an inspector general’s report was released regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) handling of the vetting process for alleged “refugees” fleeing Afghanistan as the country collapsed last year.
The Daily Caller reports that the DHS Inspector General concluded that the agency failed to “properly” vet refugees who were determined later to be a “risk to national security,” bringing potential terrorists back to the United States while leaving behind many American citizens as the country fell into the hands of the Taliban.
According to the report, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not have sufficient biographical data on many evacuees, to the point that some could not be properly screened through government databases; in some cases, the agency even had incorrect information about certain refugees.
“The safety and the security of the American people is the highest priority for the U.S. Government,” the report declared. “Preventing criminals, suspected terrorists, or other nefarious actors from entering the United States requires thorough screening and vetting. CBP’s use of incomplete or inaccurate data would not have yielded positive matches from intelligence databases if the individuals had derogatory records under a different name or DOB.”
“Therefore” the report continued, “DHS and CBP cannot be sure they properly screened, vetted, and inspected all evacuees. We found they paroled at least two individuals into the United States who may have posed a risk to national security and the safety of local communities and may have admitted or paroled more individuals of concern.”
Between July of 2021 and January of 2022, the United States brought in over 79,000 “refugees.” In mid-August of 2021, ahead of Joe Biden’s newly-extended withdrawal date of August 31st, the Taliban suddenly began seizing control of many regions of the country, marching towards the capital city of Kabul. On August 15th, Taliban forces took Kabul, forcing President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country. The remainder of the month of August saw a chaotic withdrawal that led to many civilian deaths, as well as the deaths of 13 American servicemen in a terrorist attack at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
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Eric Lendrum reports for American Greatness.
