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   GOP lawmakers want full accounting of failed vetting efforts   
      
   More than four months after the Biden administration airlifted   
   nearly 75,000 Afghans out of the war-torn country, it still does not   
   know the identity or backgrounds of many who have since been   
   resettled in the United States, according to three senators who   
   received classified briefings on the situation.   
      
   "During a nonpublic briefing before the Senate Homeland Security and   
   Governmental Affairs Committee, it was made clear that not all   
   security and vetting measures have been taken to ensure the safety   
   of our homeland," Sens. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.), Josh Hawley (R.,   
   Mo.), and Rick Scott (R., Fla.) disclosed in a letter sent Thursday   
   to the Department of Homeland Security. The lawmakers are ordering   
   the Biden administration to account for its failed vetting efforts   
   and to "address the lack of transparency regarding this evacuation   
   and resettlement operation." Congress, the lawmakers disclose, still   
   does not have basic information about who the refugees are or if   
   they were qualified to be brought into the country.   
      
   "It is beyond unacceptable that several months after President   
   Biden's disastrous and deadly withdrawal we still do not have a full   
   account of all the Americans who are still trapped in Afghanistan or   
   a full account of the Afghans who were evacuated to the U.S.," the   
   lawmakers write, according to a copy of the letter obtained   
   exclusively by the Washington Free Beacon.   
      
   In the months since the Biden administration airlifted Afghans out   
   of the country, it has obstructed congressional investigations into   
   the bungled evacuation effort. Secretary of State Antony Blinken   
   admitted to Congress in September that most refugees were not vetted   
   prior to arriving stateside. Internal emails show that those helming   
   the evacuation effort were ordered to fill flights to "excess" with   
   unvetted Afghans. More than 12,000 Afghan refugees, and potentially   
   more, arrived without a visa or basic identification, the Free   
   Beacon first reported in October.   
      
   With the administration hoping to turn the page on its chaotic exit   
   from Afghanistan, Johnson—ranking member of the Senate Permanent   
   Subcommittee on Investigations—and his colleagues say that they will   
   not back down from their oversight efforts.   
      
   "We are still concerned about your agencies' ability to fully vet   
   these individuals if they do not have any identification documents   
   and cannot prove who they claim to be," the letter to DHS states.   
      
   The lawmakers also expressed concern that the hasty evacuation of   
   these Afghans was undertaken as hundreds of Americans were trapped   
   in the country with no way to get back home. The Biden   
   administration announced in October around 300 Americans were still   
   stuck in the country but has not made any updates since.   
      
   Before the end of the year, the lawmakers demand the Biden   
   administration disclose to lawmakers how many Afghan refugees cannot   
   be identified and the steps being taken to ensure these individuals   
   are not violent criminals or affiliated with terrorist   
   organizations. They also want to know if the Biden administration   
   created new identity documents for those who arrived without any   
   paperwork.   
      
   The lawmakers also call on the administration to disclose if any of   
   the Afghan refugees have been connected to terrorism or other   
   crimes, as well as if they were interviewed in person by U.S.   
   personnel prior to being resettled. Reports indicate that some of   
   those airlifted to America were complicit in child trafficking and   
   sex crimes.   
      
   In light of these reports, the senators want to know how many   
   refugees have been arrested by U.S. law enforcement and are slated   
   to be deported from the country. This includes details about whether   
   Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained any of these Afghans   
   over national security concerns.   
      
   DHS must also "provide the number of these Afghan nationals and   
   other foreign nationals that have been resettled in each state so   
   far," according to the senators' information request.   
      
      
   https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/four-months-after-   
   withdrawal-biden-admin-doesnt-know-identities-of-afghan-refugees-   
   resettled-in-us/   
      
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