How will Afghanistan evacuees be vetted under Biden?

The shooting deaths of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., one of whom later died, led to major changes in immigration policy by the Trump administration.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the suspect is from Afghanistan and entered the United States under an Afghan resettlement program launched during the Biden administration.

Republican officials claimed without providing evidence that he had not been vetted.

The Department of Homeland Security has suspended processing of all immigration requests related to Afghan nationals “pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”

The Department of Homeland Security said the suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, entered the United States under Operation Allies Welcome (OAW), the Afghan resettlement program.

The program was launched under the Biden administration in August 2021 to resettle “vulnerable” Afghans after the Taliban took over the country that same year.

“They came in, they were not scrutinized, they were not checked,” President Trump said, calling a reporter “stupid” for asking him why he was blaming the Biden administration for the attack in Washington.

At an FBI news conference, agency director Kash Patel claimed that the previous administration “made the decision to allow thousands of people into the country without any background checks or vetting.”

and in Press release on the day of the attackThe suspect “is one of thousands of unvetted Afghan nationals allowed into the country under the Biden administration’s Welcoming Allies initiative,” the Department of Homeland Security said.

On X this week, Vice President JD Vance reflects on his remarks in 2021 “Criticizing Biden’s policy of opening the door to unvetted Afghan refugees.”

He made similar comments about censorship failures In an interview with CBS earlier this year. Vance highlighted the case of an Afghan national who was also evacuated to the United States after the Taliban takeover, Later charged with terrorism-related offenses.

Lakanwal entered the United States via OAW on September 8, 2021, shortly after the fall of Kabul.

Many Afghans are at serious risk of persecution by the Taliban, especially those who have collaborated with Western governments.

More than 190,000 Afghans have been resettled under OAW and another program called Enduring Welcome, According to a report released this year by the U.S. State Department.

Most Afghan nationals enrolled in the OAW program are allowed to stay in the country for two years, a process known as “parole.”

Afghans on parole must comply with reporting requirements (such as medical examinations and critical vaccinations) and may lose their right to remain in the United States if they do not meet these requirements.

Those who take “significant risks” to support U.S. forces in Afghanistan will be admitted as lawful permanent residents after completing the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) process.

Lakanvar had a valid SIV claim but was granted asylum this year under the current Trump administration, according to the charity AfghanEvac.

We reached out to the White House for more details about Lacanvar’s review. It doesn’t provide them, but tells us:

“If it weren’t for Joe Biden’s dangerous policies that allowed countless unchecked criminals to invade our country and harm the American people, this animal would never be here.

“Faced with relentless Democratic opposition, the Trump administration is taking every step possible to drive these monsters out of our country and clean up the mess the Biden administration has created.”

We also contacted the Department of Homeland Security and the CIA, but they did not get back to us.

While we don’t know the suspect’s vetting arrangements before entering the United States, we do know how the vetting was supposed to be planned for his arrival.

Archived government website for OAW programsThe most recent update, earlier this year, mentioned a “rigorous” and “multi-layered” vetting process that includes the collection of biometric information such as fingerprints and photos before Afghans are allowed into the country.

It cited multiple government agencies involved in the review, including the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center.

Then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in 2021 The government has “put in place a robust screening and vetting architecture” under the scheme.

Reports on the effectiveness of the program’s review are mixed.

2022 Audit Conducted by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) – A U.S. government watchdog – found that “some information on evacuees reviewed through U.S. government databases, such as names, dates of birth, identification numbers and travel document data, was inaccurate, incomplete or missing.”

The OIG said the problem occurred in part because the Department of Homeland Security did not have a list of Afghan evacuees who “lacked adequate identification.”

The report also stated that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “accepted or paroled evacuees into the United States without thorough vetting.”

two years later Another OIG audit of the program The government’s ability to identify potentially negative information, such as national security concerns, about some Afghan parolees was found to be flawed.

However, earlier this year Office of Inspector General praises FBI for its role in screening Afghans for the program.

“Overall, we found that each responsible FBI component effectively communicated and addressed any potential national security risks identified,” the report said.

As well as reviewing the OAW’s audit, BBC Verify also contacted several experts to seek their views on the review process.

Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration analyst at the Cato Institute think tank, said the program was “more inconsistent than usual, according to the Office of the Inspector General, and with the more rigorous refugee vetting process.”

“Due to the disorganization of the evacuation process and the loss of information, some checks were not carried out until the migrants had already left Afghanistan.”

Jennie Murray, president and chief executive of immigration advocacy group the National Immigration Forum, told BBC Verify that she was at the US military base where the evacuees were initially processed.

“Evacuees are processed at military bases and held for weeks or even months until they are ready to enter the United States, at which point extensive security clearances and medical screenings will be conducted,” she said.

“Even the best review cannot predict the future. He (Lakanvar) could have had a clean record, been a suitable candidate for humanitarian protection, and then things changed.”

Murray said this was the first major incident in the four years since the evacuation of thousands of Afghans settling safely in the United States.

“The fact that one person committed a horrific act does not mean that other Afghans now pose a threat,” she added.

CIA director John Ratcliffe told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that the suspect had worked with the CIA in Afghanistan.

BBC Afghanistan spoke to a soldier from the former military unit Kandahar Strike Force (KSF) in Lakhanwal.

The soldier said vetting into the unit takes about three to four weeks and includes a recommendation by a senior KSF officer and a “call log check” of their mobile devices.

If the candidate passes that stage, they may be referred for a security clearance conducted in the United States, which involves the collection of biometric data from the applicant.

Afghan Services confirmed the soldier’s account by speaking with a KSF unit commander, who also confirmed the soldier’s identity, adding that a criminal record check was also part of the review process.