Several thousand also said they did not know their date of birth when asked upon entering the United States.
A deputy inspector general revealed in a Jan. 14 Senate hearing that tens of thousands of Afghan refugees could not provide key identification when entering the United States through a Biden-era parole program.
Additionally, lawmakers revealed that more than 50 individuals in the United States with confirmed or suspected terrorist ties were allowed into the country under the program. The joint hearing was held with the Senate Border Security and Immigration and Crime and Counterterrorism subcommittees, which spiraled into arguments between Republican and Democratic lawmakers over whether vetting or counterterrorism is to blame.
Under Operation Allies Welcome, a 2021 initiative under President Joe Biden to resettle Afghans in the wake of the United States’ military withdrawal from the Middle Eastern country, roughly 76,000 evacuees were let into the United States. The operation was meant to help Afghan allies who helped U.S. forces and faced a serious threat from the Taliban because of that employment.
“There was missing information from the [Operation Allies Welcome] population, including first, last names, and date of birth,” Deputy Inspector General Craig Adelman for the Office of Audits in Homeland Security said. “There was about 11,000 to 12,000 that did not know their date of birth.”
Although Afghan refugees were asked to provide identification, Adelman testified that about 36,000 could not provide any form of it.
When asked whether the Department of Homeland Security systematically interviewed or conducted mental health screenings of evacuees before they were allowed into the United States, Adelman replied that it had not, to his knowledge.
The hearing was called “Biden’s Afghan Parolee Program – A Trojan Horse with Flawed Vetting and Deadly Consequences.”
Democrats said this title was misleading and demonized thousands of Afghan individuals.
Republicans said the hearing was appropriately named and that, above all else, the safety of Americans should be prioritized over refugee programs. This wasn’t taken into consideration during Operation Allies Welcome, the GOP senators said.
“We have no idea of their potential terrorist connections, and in many cases, we now have no idea where they are or what they’re doing, who they’re connected with, or what they’re capable of,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said.
One report shows that the total number of refugees increased significantly, to more than 200,000 Afghan nationals, through the Biden administration’s policies, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.
“Contrary to popular narratives, most Afghans admitted during and after the evacuation had nothing to do with the U.S. government or any of its contractors,” senior researcher Nayla Rush said in her report. “They were not U.S. ‘allies,’ nor were they ‘persecuted’ individuals in need of refugee resettlement.”
By Troy Myers
