Trump Administration Arrests Afghan Evacuees with Terror Ties and Sex Crime Convictions

The Department of Homeland Security has arrested multiple Afghan evacuees with criminal records including sexual battery, child molestation, and suspected terrorism support, revealing what officials describe as catastrophic failures in the Biden administration’s 2021 vetting procedures.

The arrests come days after an Afghan evacuee allegedly shot two West Virginia National Guard members, killing one, and another was charged in a Delaware terror plot. These incidents have exposed the dangerous consequences of what DHS officials characterize as a “trust without verification” approach to background checks during the chaotic Kabul withdrawal.

According to Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, the Biden administration failed to conduct criminal background checks or vet social media accounts for approximately 190,000 Afghan nationals admitted to the United States. Instead, officials relied on third-party vouching without independent verification.

“Under Secretary Noem, DHS has been going full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and criminal illegal aliens that came in through Biden’s fraudulent parole programs,” McLaughlin stated. The admission is damning: the previous administration simply took people at their word regarding evacuee backgrounds.

Here are the facts. The recent arrests include Qesmat Din Zafran, an Operation Allies Refuge participant with convictions for lewd and lascivious acts with a minor. Mansour Walizada, another evacuee from the same program, faces convictions for sexual battery. Mohammed Rasoli and Javid Ghamgheen are among other Afghan nationals recently apprehended with serious criminal allegations.

The problem extends beyond Afghan evacuees. Iraqi national Ziaulhaq Faqiri entered the United States as a “special immigrant Iraqi employee” during the Biden administration and has convictions for carnal abuse and sexual assault.

The Biden administration repeatedly insisted that Operation Allies Welcome vetting procedures were sound. Senior DHS officials now confirm this was false. The rushed evacuation prioritized speed over security, creating a pipeline for dangerous individuals to enter American communities.

This represents a fundamental failure of government’s primary responsibility: protecting American citizens. The Trump administration inherited a ticking time bomb of unvetted foreign nationals scattered across the country, many with violent criminal histories or terrorist sympathies.

The current DHS leadership has made identifying and arresting these individuals a top priority. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are working systematically to locate sexual predators, terror suspects, and other violent offenders who entered through what officials describe as “fraudulent parole programs.”

The timing is particularly significant. One recent arrest occurred around the fourth anniversary of the Afghan withdrawal, a chaotic debacle that resulted in thirteen American service members killed at Abbey Gate and billions of dollars in military equipment abandoned to the Taliban.

The distinction between Operation Allies Refuge and Operation Allies Welcome matters for understanding the scope of the problem. Allies Refuge involved the immediate mass exodus upon Kabul’s fall, often routing evacuees through third-party countries. Allies Welcome utilized domestic military bases for housing and processing. Both programs apparently suffered from inadequate vetting.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has addressed the National Guard ambush and broader concerns about migration from high-risk countries. The administration has implemented pauses on certain immigration programs while conducting comprehensive security reviews.

The question Americans should ask is simple: how did convicted sex offenders and terror suspects gain entry to the United States? The answer is equally simple: the Biden administration prioritized political optics over national security. They wanted credit for a humanitarian evacuation without doing the difficult work of ensuring evacuees posed no threat to Americans.

The consequences of that negligence are now measured in American lives lost and communities endangered. The Trump administration is working to correct these failures, but the damage has been done. Restoring public confidence in immigration vetting will require transparency about what went wrong and accountability for those responsible.

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