A handful of Republicans and Democrats are seeking to give green cards to thousands of Afghans brought to the United States by President Joe Biden’s administration amid allegations of widespread vetting failures.
Following the U.S. Armed Forces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, Biden opened a refugee and parole pipeline for tens of thousands of Afghans to be flown quickly into American communities without being screened or interviewed in person beforehand.
With the help of Republicans and Democrats in Congress, Biden has resettled more than 85,000 Afghans across 46 states since mid-August 2021 and plans to continue resettling tens of thousands of Afghans this year.
The “Afghan Adjustment Act” would allow tens of thousands of Afghans brought to the U.S. over the last year by Biden to apply for green cards — putting them on a track for naturalized American citizenship — despite holding only humanitarian parole status.
Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Fred Upton (R-MI), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Jason Crow (D-CO), and Scott Peters (D-CA) are sponsoring the legislation.
The effort comes as a whistleblower says nearly 400 Afghans were allowed into the U.S. for resettlement despite having been listed in federal “watch list” databases as potential national security threats. The whistleblower also says Biden’s federal agencies urged staff to cut corners in the vetting process to get as many Afghans resettled in the U.S.
Those allegations come after a Department of Defense (DOD) Inspector General report revealed that Biden’s agencies failed to properly vet Afghans arriving in the United States. The report states that as of November 2021, fifty Afghans already in the United States had been flagged for “significant security concerns.”
Most of the unvetted Afghans flagged for possible terrorism ties, the report states, have since disappeared into the nation’s interior. The report noted that as of September 17, 2021, only three of 31 Afghans flagged for security concerns could be located.
Likewise, a recent Project Veritas report alleges that the Biden administration resettled Afghans listed on the federal government’s “Terrorism Watch List” across American communities.
A few months ago, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Rob Portman (R-OH), and James Inhofe (R-OK) revealed that Biden’s agencies were still refusing to screen and vet Afghan arrivals through DOD’s “tactical database” despite warnings that many could have ties to terrorism.
Even for Afghans not yet resettled in the U.S., Biden has authorized his agencies to cut back on vetting procedures.
In a stunning move, Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced in June that Afghans who “provided … limited material support” to terrorist organizations would still qualify for resettlement in American communities.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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