Democrats have slipped $3 billion into a funding bill for tens of thousands of Afghans brought to the United States by President Joe Biden over the last year as calls mount from lawmakers to investigate the administration’s reported vetting failures.
Following the U.S. Armed Forces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, Biden opened a “humanitarian parole” pipeline that has resettled more than 86,000 Afghans in American communities, many of whom were not screened or interviewed in person.
A short-term funding bill set forward by Democrats this week is seeking $3 billion to continue Biden’s Afghan resettlement operation that has already been funded to the sum of multiple billions with the help of Republicans.
Biden previously asked Congress to allow more than 72,000 Afghans brought to the U.S. to adjust their status and secure green cards which would allow them to eventually gain naturalized American citizenship and later bring over foreign relatives on green cards.
Democrats are upset, though, that the green card measure is not included in the latest spending bill. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said he has major concerns with such a plan considering the allegations of widespread vetting failures. Grassley told Military.com:
In light of the administration’s vetting failures of evacuees — which we’ve received multiple classified briefings on — and the fact that the scope of this bill extends far beyond the Afghan allies for whom we already have a longstanding green card program, there are legitimate reasons for these hesitations.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), along with others, has called for a select committee to investigate the vetting failures.
Most recently, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General issued a bombshell report detailing how Biden brought Afghans to the United States who were “not fully vetted” and may “pose a risk to national security.”
Two Afghans, in particular, were resettled in American communities by the Biden administration who were later found to be national security threats with ties to terrorism. One of those Afghans has already been deported, while DHS officials said the other is in deportation proceedings.
Similarly, a Department of Defense (DOD) Inspector General report revealed that Biden’s agencies failed to properly vet Afghans arriving in the United States, and that about 50 Afghans were flagged for “significant security concerns” after their resettlement.
Most of the unvetted Afghans flagged for possible terrorism ties, the report states, have since disappeared into American communities. The report noted that as of September 17, 2021, only three of 31 Afghans flagged with specific “derogatory information” could be located.
In addition, a Project Veritas report alleges that the Biden administration resettled Afghans listed on the government’s “Terrorism Watch List” in communities across America.
A federal whistleblower, in August, came forward to allege that the Biden administration resettled nearly 400 Afghans in American communities who are listed in federal databases as “potential threats to national security” — leading the DOD Inspector General to open an investigation into the claims.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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