The Biden administration continues its assault on U.S. national security.
Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan has created unprecedented threats to U.S. national security as I noted in an earlier article, Biden’s Catastrophic Policies: Immigration and Afghanistan and those threats are about to be exacerbated by a policy change of the Biden administration.
On June 14, 2022 The Los Angeles Times reported, Some Afghan refugees now have chance to avoid terrorism designation that blocked path to U.S.
Here is how this disconcerting news report begins:
Doctors, teachers, engineers and other Afghans who were forced to associate with the Taliban will now have a chance at asylum or visas after the Biden administration loosened a terrorism-related designation on Tuesday, according to government officials and documents reviewed by the Los Angeles Times.
The exemption will be applied on a case by case basis after security vetting and is expected to help Afghans who fled their country after U.S. troops withdrew and the Taliban took over last August, as well as some Afghans who entered the U.S. earlier, said officials from the Department of Homeland Security.
The administration assurances that each case will be adjudicated on a case by case basis that will involve security vetting does absolutely nothing to assuage my serious concerns.
The fact that among the refugees are doctors, teachers and engineers does nothing to prove that these individual do not pose a threat to US security. I would remind you that Osama bin Laden had a degree in civil engineering (which, in fact, made him all the more dangerous) and George Habash the founder of the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) an exceedingly violent terrorist organization, was a pediatrician.
That news report and the policy change of the Biden administration comes on the heels of a February 18, 2022 Fox News report: Pentagon IG report says 50 Afghan evacuees brought to US had ‘potentially significant security concerns’
Here is how that report began:
A Pentagon inspector general report released this week found that officials identified at least 50 Afghan evacuees who were brought to the United States in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan whose information indicated “potentially significant security concerns” –and were unable to locate dozens of those who it said had “derogatory information” that would make them ineligible for parole.
The report, released on Thursday, found that U.S. agencies “did not use all available data when vetting Afghan evacuees.” The National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) later expanded its review to fill the gaps in screening, the report said.
The Fox News report is only the tip of a very huge iceberg.
There is a Yiddish expression that states, “When the fish goes bad, it smells from the head!”
The head of DHS is Alejandro Mayorkas the very same Mayorkas who now promises that the applications for visas and asylum will be carefully scrutinized.
Putting Mayorkas in charge of DHS is the equivalent of putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department!
In short, Mayorkas, who demanded that those who worked for him at USCIS approve virtually all applications for visas, demonstrated serious malfeasance that undermined the integrity of the visa issuing process.
Even before Biden was sworn in as President, he announced that Mayorkas would be his pick to become the Secretary of DHS (Department of Homeland Security). I wrote an article about Biden’s choice for this important position in my December 7, 2020 article, Biden’s DHS: Department of Homeland Surrender: Alejandro Mayorkas, architect of DACA, picked by Biden to head DHS.
My article included a link to an Inspector General report that was issued on March 24, 2015 into allegations made by employees of USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services)that were, at the time under the direction of Mayorkas. Here is how the cover letter from the Inspector General began:
Attached is our report of the investigation on the allegations made against Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. I have also attached the written statement he gave to our investigators. The report is furnished for whatever action you consider appropriate.
This report resulted from employees within USCIS who stepped forward to tell us what they witnessed. We will protect the confidentiality of these courageous employees, who are protected from retaliation by the Whistleblower Protection Act and whose identities are protected under the provisions of the Inspector General Act. We hope that their actions will set an example for all potential whistleblowers who look to the Office of Inspector General to give them a voice.
My article also included this excerpt:
ABC News published several in-depth articles about the troubling findings of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG).
On March 24, 2015 ABC News reported, “Top Homeland Official Alejandro Mayorkas Accused of Political Favoritism Alejandro Mayorkas oversaw controversial $500,000 visa program.
The above-noted report was preceded by two ABC News reports that were published on February 3, 2015 which illustrate a clear nexus between these visas and national security:
“Whistleblowers: US Gave Visas to Suspected Forgers, Fraudsters, Criminals Internal documents show feds ignored warnings from FBI.” This report began with this excerpt:
Officials overseeing a federal program that offers an immigration short-cut to wealthy foreign investors have ignored pointed warnings from federal agents and approved visas for some immigrants suspected of having committed fraud, money laundering, and even one applicant with alleged ties to a child porn website, an ABC News investigation has found. The shortcomings prompted concerns within the Department of Homeland Security that the boutique immigration program would be exploited by terrorists, according to internal documents obtained by ABC News.
“It is shocking,” said Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican. “Particularly when you have F.B.I. and other law enforcement agencies that are saying national security could be compromised or is being compromised — that’s enough for us to be concerned.”
“Feds Investigating Iran Ties to Firm Involved in US Visa Program Documents: Iranian operatives may be abusing program to “infiltrate” U.S.” This report began with these excerpt:
Federal agents in Los Angeles are investigating an L.A. shipping firm and its Iranian-born owner who for years have participated in and promoted an obscure U.S. immigration program — allowing the company to recruit wealthy foreign investors to receive visas and potentially Green Cards, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The company’s name surfaced in a confidential Department of Homeland Security government document, which raised “concerns that this particular visa program may be abused by Iranian operatives to infiltrate the United States.”
Whistleblowers inside the federal agency that oversees the immigration program told ABC News they have been deeply frustrated by an inability to de-certify the company, even after they became aware of the investigation and saw the company’s name surface in an alarming internal Department Homeland Security memo. The memo, shared with ABC News, outlines concerns that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have attempted to exploit the visa program “to infiltrate the United States.”
The ABC report included this excerpt about one company in particularly, TTC (Total Transportation Concepts):
The records show that the TTC employee was suspected of ties to an Iranian terror network that was involved in bombing plots and attempted assassinations. In 2012, federal investigators sent an email to immigration officials to advise them against re-certifying American Logistics for the immigration program, warning that an approval “would likely have serious national security implications.”
“I strongly advise against a favorable adjudication,” wrote a Homeland Security Special Agent in the Counter-Proliferation Investigations Center in the April 30, 2012 email.
But agents with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) moved forward and green-lighted American Logistics and Mahdavi, to continue overseeing a designated “regional center” for a special U.S. immigration program for wealthy foreigners known by its visa classification, EB-5.
Under the best of circumstance, vetting aliens, particularly those who come from countries that are under the control of hostile governments is daunting, to say the least.
My December 2019 article, Terror Attack At Naval Air Station Highlights Immigration Catastrophe– Limitations in the vetting process endanger national security.was predicated on the deadly shooting at the Pensacola Air Naval Station by a 21 year old member of the Saudi military, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a second lieutenant in the Saudi Air Force as reported in the New York Times on December 6, 2019, Trainee on Military Base Mounts Deadly Attack.
That article included links to reports about other terrorists who were not stopped by the vetting process:
On December 3, 2019 the DOJ reported, Hizballah Operative Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison for Covert Terrorist Activities on Behalf of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization; Ali Kourani Was Trained by Hizballah’s External Terrorist Operations Component and Gathered Intelligence in New York City in Support of Attack-Planning Efforts.
My recent article, Alleged Hezbollah “Sleeper” Arrested In NYC By Joint Terrorism Task Force included this paragraph:
On September 19, 2019 the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York issued a press release that announced, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Indictment Of New Jersey Man For Terrorist Activities On Behalf Of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization. The subtitle of that press release provides more disturbing information, Alexei Saab Allegedly Was Trained by Hizballah’s External Terrorist Operations Component in Bomb-Making and Conducted Intelligence-Gathering in New York City and Washington, D.C., and Elsewhere in Support of Hizballah’s Attack-Planning Efforts.
On August 2, 2019 the Justice Department posted thus extremely this worrying news release, Afghanistan National and Former U.S. Military Interpreter Charged for Role in Human Smuggling Conspiracy.
On August 20, 2018 the Department of Justice issued a press release, Two Individuals Charged for Acting as Illegal Agents of the Government of Iran.
My piece written in February 2018, Saudi Graduate Of Al Qaeda Terror Training Camp Arrested In Oklahoma – Alleged classmate of 9/11 hijackers attended US flight school in 2016 included a link to the DOJ press release, Saudi Citizen Charged in Oklahoma With Concealing Attendance at Al Qaeda Training Camp.
When you add to the mix the mindset of an individual such as Mayorkas, who has refused to secure our borders, enforce our immigration laws from within the interior of the United States and refuse to pursue immigration fraudsters, as I wrote in my October 22, 2022 article, Biden Administration Plans To Protect Immigration Fraudsters we have a potentially catastrophic situation even as intelligence services warn that within a couple of years ISIS and other terror groups will be in the position to carry out deadly terror attacks within the borders of the United States- the borders the Biden administration refuses to secure.
As I noted in a recent article, Mayorkas is not America’s guardian — he’s its innkeeper.
©Michael Cutler. All rights reserved.
