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The improvisation of the Biden administration was once again in evidence after it became known that “almost none of the 82,000 people airlifted from Kabul” were vetted before entering the United States.
Sources familiar with the refugee interviews claim that “the Biden administration violated U.S. government policies for handling refugees.”
Last August 22, Biden promised that anyone entering the United States after the withdrawal of U.S. troops would be screened.
“Planes taking off from Kabul are not flying directly to the United States. They’re landing at U.S. military bases and transit centers around the world (…) At these sites where they are landing, we are conducting thorough scrutiny — security screenings for everyone who is not a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident,” he said.
However, a Washington Examiner report revealed that the administration failed to vet the people it brought in from Afghanistan: “the administration failed to vet the information that tens of thousands of Afghans provided through in-person interviews and relied solely on criminal and terrorist databases to flag bad actors,” the report said.
Biden, who withdrew troops from Afghanistan without planning to leave hundreds of Americans stranded in that country, also failed to follow proper vetting protocols that allow for proper immigration and asylum processing for those who traveled from Kabul to the United States in the midst of the crisis, a situation that could jeopardize the country’s security.
Three people familiar with the interviews described in a memo from GOP lawmakers that tens of thousands of Afghans arriving in the country were unqualified.
“The large majority of people, approximately 75%, evacuated were not American citizens, green card holders, Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders, or applicants for the visa,,” according to the Washington Examiner. In short, while Biden was ferrying people from Kabul who were not qualified, he was leaving behind hundreds who did deserve it.
“A senior administration official said more than 40% of the 82,000 who made it to the U.S. were allies, meaning they are eligible for the visa but had not applied. The remaining roughly 60% were not eligible for the visa and were defined by DHS as “namely family members of American citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents, and individuals who had careers that would put them at risk,” the WE notes.
How did Biden break laws with people from Afghanistan?
Refugee and immigrant screening became an admissions requirement after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but as The Examiner concludes, it was abandoned in the case of Afghan refugees.
Instead of following protocols indicating the need to screen refugees before admitting them, the Biden administration instructed military and federal police officers who handled evacuations to “adhere to less stringent standards.”
“Unfortunately, in this new system that they set up specifically for this population, the majority of these folks did not get any sort of in-person interview,” a source told the newspaper.
“One source said the lack of vetting of the evacuees was especially concerning given that the Taliban controlled the roads in Kabul and themselves determined who would be allowed through their checkpoints to get to the airport for evacuation,” journalist Anna Giaritelli, author of the lengthy story, explained on Twitter.
Sabrina Martín Rondon is a Venezuelan journalist. Her source is politics and economics. She is a specialist in corporate communications and is committed to the task of dismantling the supposed benefits of socialism // Sabrina Martín Rondon es periodista venezolana. Su fuente es la política y economía. Es especialista en comunicaciones corporativas y se ha comprometido con la tarea de desmontar las supuestas bondades del socialismo