A group of GOP senators led by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) sent a letter to the Biden administration on Monday requesting the completion of “all appropriate vetting procedures at safe locations abroad” of evacuees from Afghanistan.
“Today, as many as 65,000 Afghan evacuees flown out of Afghanistan under the President’s orders now reside across eight military bases in the United States,” the letter began. “The Biden Administration’s security vetting procedures to clear Afghans entering the country remain unclear and incomplete, and, unless changed, are insufficient to preserve the safety of the American homeland.”
“We are concerned the hastily developed process creates gaps in security and criminal vetting and risks our Nation’s security,” the letter continued. “We urge that you pause relocating any more Afghan evacuees to the United States, except for fully-vetted Afghans holding Special Immigration Visas, and complete all appropriate vetting procedures at safe locations abroad. We further ask that you pause resettlement of Afghans already paroled into the United States until the Department of Defense Inspector General verifies that DOD is appropriately managing and tracking evacuees through the biometrics enrollment, screening, and vetting process.”
The group stated that “Afghans selected to board American military planes in Kabul did not complete the long-established interagency vetting processes… Instead, much of the vetting is occurring on military bases on U.S. soil. Furthermore, the State Department’s inability to facilitate or process SIV applicants on-ground, those that aided American operations in Afghanistan, fails our partners and breaks promises made to those who put themselves and their families at significant risk to aid U.S. efforts in Afghanistan.”
The group noted that “a number of Afghan evacuees have already been flagged for terrorist ties after entry into the United States.”
“The vetting process must ensure the security, medical, and criminal screening of each Afghan seeking admittance into the United States,” the letter stated. “DHS also needs to clarify exactly what actions will be taken when derogatory information is uncovered on an Afghan already paroled into the United States—we cannot release a potential terrorist into the United States, nor can we obligate our allies and partners who have aided American resettlement efforts to accept persons identified as security risks.”
