Border czar Tom Homan vows the Trump administration will thoroughly vet Afghan refugees after a government report noted the group was not properly vetted.
Homan told The Center Square that the administration would be doing things the “right way” by revisiting the vetting process.
“We’re going to re-vet them because we don’t think the last administration properly vetted them … this administration will do things the right way, we’ll make sure everyone is vetted properly,” said Homan.
Homan pointed to a 2022 Department of Defense Inspector General report that admitted thousands of Afghan evacuees who entered the U.S. following the American military evacuation in August 2021 were not properly vetted.
The Department of Defense “found that Afghan evacuees were not vetted by the National Counter-Terrorism Center using all DoD data prior to arriving in CONUS,” said the report.
“This occurred because Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) enrollments were compared against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) data, which did not initially include all biometric data located in the DoD Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) database and because the DoD’s National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) has agreements with foreign partners that prohibits the sharing of some ABIS data with U.S. agencies outside of the DoD.
“Subsequently, in August 2021, NGIC personnel expanded their normal analytic review of all biometric watchlist matches to also include non‑watchlist matches of Afghan evacuees using all DoD data to close these gaps. Because NGIC personnel needed access to CBP records to complete this analysis, the NGIC entered into an agreement with the DHS to access the necessary CBP records. This agreement was set to expire December 27, 2021, prior to NGIC completing a full review of all Afghan evacuees,” the report added.
The inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security says nearly 80,000 Afghan refugees were admitted into the U.S. between July 2021 and January 2022.
Following the evacuation of Afghan refugees, 4,000 were housed at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia, according to the report.
Task Force Quantico personnel “did not have controls in place to ensure the accountability of the 3,755 Afghan evacuees under their supervision. As of Sept. 27, 2021, there were no additional accountability checks of Afghan evacuees after initially documenting names upon their arrival,” according to the audit.
The report noted that personnel “relied on Afghan leaders and interagency partners to inform the Command when individuals went missing or did not show up for scheduled appointments.”
Personnel admitted that “without proper accountability of personnel, it was difficult for TF Quantico personnel to determine if any Afghan evacuees were missing in an emergency or other unexpected events.”
Homan’s comments support legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate earlier this year by Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Joni Ernest, R-Iowa, titled the Afghan Vetting Accountability Act, which followed an announcement by President Donald Trump to pause the refugee program.
The senators say the Biden administration “botched the withdrawal from Afghanistan,” which allowed “entry to persons of national security, public safety threats and a terrorist planning an attack on our nation,” according to a release from the lawmakers.
