Errors were found in 40% of asylum applications filed by Afghan migrants who entered the United States following the Biden administration’s withdrawal.
Errors were reportedly found in 40% of asylum applications filed by Afghan migrants who entered the United States following the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to a new Department of Homeland Security inspector general report released this week.
The report looked at a sample of 678 asylum applications from Afghans who resettled in the U.S. under the "Operation Allies Welcome Program," which was launched by the Biden administration in August 2021. What it found: 303 missing aliases, 23 missing security checks and over 150 other documentation issues.
Former DHS senior adviser Charles Marino told The National News Desk Tuesday that he believes the 40% figure is likely low.
If that sampling had been bigger, that 40% would be much, much higher,” Marino said.
The inspector general report also described two specific cases in which missed aliases and incomplete documentation reportedly involved individuals who may have potentially been inadmissible to the U.S. on “terrorism-related grounds.”
Marino criticized the administration’s approach to immigration and legal entry pathways. “Not only did we have illegal immigration, we also had the exploitation by the administration of these supposed legal pathways into the United States,” he said.
He also pointed to the Trump administration’s position on canceling certain programs.
The Trump administration was right in saying, look, we’ve got to cancel these programs from these jurisdictions because there’s just no way to assure the American people that they’re thoroughly being vetted,” Marino said.
Republicans have long expressed concerns about 'Operation Allies Welcome,' the program that brought over 70,000 Afghans to the U.S. following the 2021 troop withdrawal.
Upon the report’s release, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in part, “The Biden Administration dangerously mismanaged the Operation Allies Welcome program, disregarding all the thorough and well-established procedures of our asylum system and putting our nation at risk."
Former DHS Secretary under the Biden administration, Alejandro Mayorkas, frequently defended the administration’s vetting process, including during testimony on Capitol Hill in November 2021.
And it is our policy to vet 100% of the individuals in those transit countries before they board a flight for the U.S.,” Mayorkas told Senate lawmakers.
The report was released as DHS issued a warning to a major migrant caravan that crossed into Mexico and was moving north in hopes of reaching the U.S.-Mexico border. DHS said anyone attempting to illegally enter the U.S. will be apprehended, prosecuted and removed from the country.
