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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may have failed to properly screen and screen Afghan refugees entering the United States, allowing multiple national security and public safety threats to the United States. There is, says a new report from the Office of the Inspector General of Homeland Security.
The DHS Inspector General’s report found that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “does not always have critical data to properly screen, screen, or inspect evacuees.” .
“We have determined that some of the information used to screen evacuees through U.S. government databases is inaccurate, incomplete, or missing, including names, dates of birth, identification numbers, and travel document data. We also confirmed that CBP has cleared or paroled evacuees who were not fully evacuated and entered the United States,” the report said.
“As a result, DHS may have admitted to the United States or released on parole individuals who pose a danger to national security and community safety,” the report continued.
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People board a Qatar Airways aircraft at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 9, 2021.
(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
The Afghan withdrawal last August and subsequent Taliban occupation forced tens of thousands of Afghans to flee to the United States.More than 76,000 Afghans have fled and entered the United States so far
The report outlines the process by which the Department of Defense evacuated foreigners to “lily pads.” Countries such as Germany, Qatar, Spain and Italy have allowed Afghans to be temporarily held before being transferred to the United States.
Under Operation Allies Welcome (OAW), DHS used humanitarian parole. This was to be used on a case-by-case basis for important public interest or urgent humanitarian reasons. , the administration circumvented the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) process and the U.S. Refugee Entry Process. Both of these processes can take years to complete.
The administration has repeatedly promoted a multi-layered process of screening, testing, and scrutinizing evacuees using biometric and biographical data against multiple databases, including Department of Defense, DHS, and FBI repositories. However, the audit said the process was flawed and that “critical data” was not always available. was also granted or released on parole.
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It attributes the failure to evacuees who did not have adequate documentation, lack of standardized policies, and the failure to provide contingency plans for such situations. Officials also attribute the problem to time constraints on the “lily pads”, which are limited to days or weeks. Officials also said they would have to manually enter data from photos of handwritten flight manifests.
The watchdog has identified individuals with only one name, individuals assigned a birth date of January 1, reliance on translators, other cultural differences, and reports that DHS scrutinizes evacuees. It gives examples of “suspicious data” that have made it difficult to sift through According to the report, CBP “failed to provide reliable data on evacuees admitted or paroled to the United States” and listed individuals admitted or paroled to the United States without proper background checks. was not maintained.
The Inspector General’s Office also cited an internal DHS report that CBP “admitted or paroled dozens of evacuees with disparaging information into the United States.” It has since been removed by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICE).
“Even if CBP used incomplete or inaccurate data, no positive match from intelligence databases could be obtained if the individual had a derogatory record with a different name or date of birth. “Thus, DHS and CBP cannot be sure that they have adequately screened, vetted, and tested all evacuees. We have admitted or paroled individuals of greater concern who may have posed a risk.”
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The report recommends that CBP ensure that established review processes are implemented to identify evacuees in the United States and provide evidence of full screening and review. It also calls for a “comprehensive contingency plan” to prepare for future situations.
DHS refuted the report, defending what it described as an “unprecedented government-wide effort” and saying it was an “interagency and multi-layered scrutiny process” that the OIG continues to repeatedly scrutinize. accused the OIG of not acknowledging As a result, he said the CBP review was only part of the review process.
“The rigorous, multi-tiered screening and review process established by the U.S. government begins overseas and is followed by intelligence, law enforcement, and counter-terrorism officials throughout the U.S. government, including the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and states. The Bureau of Investigation, the National Counterterrorism Center, and other intelligence community partners — for all Afghan nationals arriving in the United States through OAW, said in a statement.
In a response contained in the report, the agency also disputed the report’s finding that it paroled individuals who had derogatory information on their records, and that they were cleared at the time of travel and released with new derogatory information after parole. information has been revealed. Authorities took appropriate measures.
“This shows a screening system that works as designed,” the response said, claiming that “all Afghan citizens were screened, vetted and tested before being released on parole to the United States.”
The OIG was not satisfied with DHS’s response. “The State Department claimed it provided sufficient evidence that all individuals were properly screened, vetted and tested, but was unable to verify this claim and reported data inaccuracies.” said the inspector.
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The OIG report provides the latest spark of concern over the mass parole of Afghans to the United States last year. A February Pentagon Inspector General report said at least 50 evacuees had been brought to the United States and that the information raised “potentially serious security concerns,” officials said with disparaging information. He revealed that he could not find ten people.
Last month, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) revealed that a whistleblower said 324 individuals had entered derogatory information. “As a result, there are many individuals through our joint counter-terrorism unit that we are actively seeking to investigate,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
“This is a huge amount of people being screened in a very short period of time,” he said, defending the screening process.
Fox News’ Pat Ward contributed to this report.
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