House Oversight Committee ranking member James Comer urged leaders at the State Department and Homeland Security to detail the vetting process for Afghan refugees.
The Kentucky Republican’s letters, sent on Wednesday, come as the United States evacuates tens of thousands of Afghanistan-based Americans and Afghan allies and less than a week before President Joe Biden’s self-imposed deadline to pull troops out of the country.
HOW THE US IS HANDLING CORONAVIRUS IN KABUL AMID AFGHANISTAN EVACUATIONS
“Our country owes a moral obligation to those who put themselves at great personal risk to provide substantial assistance to coalition forces in Afghanistan,” Comer wrote in letters addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “We therefore must work to ensure those individuals safe passage out of Afghanistan. And though we must expeditiously process and adjudicate any immigration benefits for which they may be eligible, we must also continue to guard against potential terrorist entry into the United States.”
In particular, Comer wants to know the “procedures used to screen Special Immigrant Visa applicants,” Afghans applying for Refugee admittance through the P-1 or P-2 designations, and what “government cross-referencing” is going on to ensure no one slips through the cracks.
“Intelligence, law enforcement, and counterterrorism professionals are conducting screening and security vetting for all SIV applicants and other vulnerable Afghans before they are allowed into the United States,” a State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday. “We are surging resources to evaluate each case and process these as efficiently as possible to protect homeland security.”
The spokesperson also said the State Department “does not comment on Congressional correspondence.”
The U.S. military has evacuated or facilitated the evacuation of more than 82,000 people since Aug. 14 and nearly 88,000 this month as of Wednesday morning, according to a White House official. “Several thousand” have already landed in the U.S., Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said during Wednesday’s briefing.
“As part of this process, these individuals completed biometric vetting and screening in accordance with the FBI, NCTC, and Customs and Border Control standards, all directed by the Department of Homeland Security,” he added.
When pressed on the vetting process, multiple Biden administration officials said evacuees undergo biometric and biographic background checks.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“That process involves biometric and biographic security screenings conducted by our intelligence, law enforcement and counterterrorism professionals who are working quite literally around the clock to vet all these Afghans before they’re allowed into the United States,” a Biden senior administration official said on a call with reporters earlier this week.
Comer’s letter was sent a day after security screeners at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which has inhumane conditions, flagged one Afghan evacuee for ties to ISIS, according to Defense One.
The Defense Department’s Automated Biometric Identification System has flagged up to 100 Afghan Special Immigrant Visa recipients as possible matches to agency watch lists.
A Homeland Security spokesperson told the Washington Examiner, “DHS responds to official correspondence through official channels.“
