Officials Discover Major Felons Among Refugees Vetted by Biden Admin and Brought to US
Questions are being asked about the Biden administration’s vetting of tens of thousands of Afghans who have been brought into the country after it became known that two men who arrived in the U.S. had been previously deported after committing violent crimes.
One man, a convicted rapist, was deported several years ago and found his way back into the U.S. amid the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last month.
The Washington Times reported that a second man, who was also deported for a different crime, was found among refugees at Washington Dulles International Airport.
That man, who was not named in the Times story, was previously convicted of aggravated robbery. He had been deported in 2017. The report did not state when it was discovered that a known and violent felon was discovered among refugees by customs agents.
The startling report follows another report of a convicted rapist being allowed into the country after leaving Kabul last month — after having also been deported in 2017.
The Times reported a man named Ghader Heydari, 47, was intercepted at the same airport in Washington on Aug. 26 after arriving from a connecting flight in Germany. The man was among other Afghans who had left Kabul on military flights.
ICE officials sent him to a facility in Virginia while it is determined what to do with him.
According to the Idaho Department of Corrections, Heydari was paroled in 2015 and was under supervision until he was deported. He was convicted of rape in 2011 and had not been scheduled for release until 2028.
The sheriff in Canyon County, Idaho, where Heydari was convicted of rape, slammed the Biden administration for allowing him back in.
“This guy’s a threat. And the United States — the Biden administration — brought him here,” Sheriff Kieran Donahue told the Times.
“We’re going to pay for this for some time, possibly for decades, and as law enforcement, we’re kind of that first line of defense out here,” Donahue added. “These people are coming into the country without a thorough vetting process, and I don’t believe there is one being done thoroughly. We stand to have a whole bunch of law enforcement respond to tragic events, up to and including terrorist activity, on our soil.”
The fact that two men who were previously deported from this country after committing violent crimes were able to get back in amid the chaotic exit from Kabul is raising questions about how federal officials have vetted tens of thousands of people.
Having already seen felons, as well as a number of individuals with measles make it through the vetting process, @GovLauraKelly must ensure ALL refugees stepping foot in KS have been vetted to the highest degree in a third country to safeguard our national and state’s security. https://t.co/9jjSYYo9Ss
— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) September 16, 2021
I have advocated that we should try and settle these individuals in other countries around Afghanistan that share their values and culture, especially if we can not ensure proper vetting.
— Matt Rosendale (@RepRosendale) September 16, 2021
The traditional vetting process for these individuals is a 14-step procedure, that takes well over a year. The mass evacuation of over 100,000 Afghan nationals in a matter of weeks has made proper vetting of these individuals near impossible.
— Matt Rosendale (@RepRosendale) September 16, 2021
Of course, some have been asking raising questions about terrorism concerns since flights began departing Afghanistan. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has defended how the Biden administration is vetting Afghan nationals.
Fox News reported Mayorkas last week described the process of vetting tens of thousands of people.
“We have no information to suggest ISIS has come into the United States through the Afghan national population that we have admitted under our legal authorities,” Mayorkas said at a National Press Club event.
“We have a multi-layered, multi-agency screening and vetting process to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he added.
“We screen and vet individuals before they board planes to travel to the United States and that screening and vetting process is an ongoing one and multi-layered.”
Some analysts, according to the Times article, are concerned that the men’s criminal past was not discovered until the two reached U.S. soil, because that “creates a series of rights and erects significant hurdles to getting rid of them again.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
