Afghan National Accused in Terror Plot Was Not Vetted for SIV Status, Despite Past Biden Admin Claims
Jacqui Heinrich et al., Fox News, October 16, 2024
The Biden-Harris administration now admits that an Afghan national accused of plotting an Election Day terror attack did not undergo certain vetting they previously claimed he passed.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, was never vetted or approved by the State Department for special immigrant (SIV) status, though officials from other agencies had claimed he cleared that stringent process.
Additionally, sources familiar with the investigation tell Fox News that Tawhedi was not well known to the U.S. government when the administration facilitated his departure to the states, despite his security role with the CIA in Afghanistan. Fox News has learned Tawhedi was employed as a local guard outside the base perimeter and he would not have been among the most thoroughly vetted U.S. partners.
The news upends claims officials made last week that Tawhedi was vetted three times: first to work for the CIA in Afghanistan, then to come to the U.S. on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) humanitarian parole during the withdrawal and a third time when he was approved for special immigrant (SIV) status after arriving in the U.S.
Officials now acknowledge Tawhedi was never vetted or approved for special immigrant (SIV) status, a thorough State Department process which can take years to complete. The State Department has maintained all along it had no role in Tawhedi’s refugee status, despite what a DHS case agent told investigators – leading to its inaccurate mention in the DOJ criminal complaint.
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DHS has repeatedly stated that no red flags were identified at any point in Tawhedi’s vetting, but three sources forcefully disputed DHS’ characterization of the vetting process as “thorough.”
According to a 2022 DHS Inspector General Report, DHS did not provide data or evidence to support its claim that “recurrent vetting processes were established for all paroled Afghan evacuees for the duration of their parole period.” The report also stated that DHS admitted or paroled evacuees who were not fully vetted into the United States, in many cases because information used to vet evacuees through U.S. Government databases, such as name, date of birth, identification number, and travel document data, was inaccurate, incomplete, or missing.
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