DHS report finds Biden Afghan refugee program had 40% error rate

The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday its Office of the Inspector General's recent report found that a Biden administration program to admit Afghan refugees had a 40% error rate in adjudicating asylum claims, prompting national security concerns. 

The inspector general report was released to the department last week and reviewed the Biden administration's Operation Allies Welcome program, which was established in 2022 and required U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to interview an OAW asylum applicant within 45 days of the filing of the application, with no exceptions.

The review comes after the department received complaints that its 2023 settlement in Ahmed vs. DHS, rushed the agency's process of reviewing each application. The settlement directed USCIS to adjudicate 90% of OAW asylum applications within 150 days.

“Our asylum system should be as strict as possible. If even one dangerous criminal or terrorist slips through and enters our country, it endangers countless American lives,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement. 

“The Biden Administration dangerously mismanaged the Operation Allies Welcome program, disregarding all the thorough and well-established procedures of our asylum system and putting our nation at risk," he continued. "Unlike the Biden Administration, the Trump Administration is putting the American people first and bringing an end to these reckless and rushed asylum practices.”

The OIG report said the rushed timeline resulted in a 40% error rate in the adjudication of OAW asylum files, which prompted USCIS to miss opportunities to potentially link an applicant's alias names to information that could have made them ineligible for asylum.

The report also notes that under the resettlement program, many criminal illegal migrants were released into the country, including those convicted for lewd or lascivious acts with a minor, sexual battery, hit-and-run, drug possession and kidnapping.

For example, one Afghan national admitted through the program was arrested in Oklahoma last year for allegedly planning an Election Day terrorist attack on Americans.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.