By Alia Shoaib and Shane CroucherShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberRepublicans were sounding the alarm about the vetting of Afghans who entered the U.S. under the Biden administration's "Operation Allies Welcome" program back in October 2021—the same initiative that gave entry to Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the suspect in the D.C. shooting of two National Guard troops, a month earlier.
U.S. Representative Clay Higgins, the Louisiana Republican who was then ranking member of the Subcommittee on Border Security, raised concerns about the national security implications of the operation to bring across Afghans who had helped the evacuating American forces as the Taliban regained control of the country.
"Some of these individuals are being paroled into the interior of the United States, or they are even prematurely leaving military bases before undergoing proper and necessary vetting," Higgins told a joint committee hearing of the House on October 21, 2021.
"The Committee on Homeland Security Republicans have received very little information from the Biden administration on how these efforts are progressing.
"It is shameful, in my opinion, that only now has the majority decided to hold a hearing on Afghanistan, and I am requesting, respectfully, that the committee hold a full committee hearing with relevant government witnesses on the entire resettlement process, including the screening and vetting of Afghans into the United States.
"As part of our Congressional oversight authority, the committee must address the fallout, including any national security threats, due to the manner in which the United States withdrew from Afghanistan. Additionally, the committee must also address the screening and vetting process for all Afghans leaving Kabul during the chaotic last days."
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Lakamal, the suspect in Wednesday's National Guard shooting, was "one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021, under the Biden Administration."
The DHS described Lakamal in its release as "a criminal alien from Afghanistan" and called the shooting a "terror attack".
President Donald Trump called for all Afghans who entered the country under the Operation Allies Welcome scheme to be re-examined in a video address on Wednesday.
“We must now reexamine every single alien who’s entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country,” he said.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services wrote on X that the department was halting the processing of all immigration requests for Afghan nationals indefinitely, pending a review of security and vetting protocols.
This is a developing article. Updates to follow.
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