Testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday morning, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was pressed on the catastrophic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Under questioning from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, Mayorkas admitted he doesn't know how many Afghans were vetted before leaving the country and repeated the Biden administration talking point that the evacuation was the "most successful" in American history.
MORE: pic.twitter.com/GHbYynRGO7
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) November 16, 2021
DHS Secretary Mayorkas: "We are not conducting in-person, full refugee interviews of 100 percent" of Afghan evacuees. pic.twitter.com/2IeBHTdiUq
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 16, 2021
Despite false claims from White House officials, vetting for thousands of Afghans -- who were frantically put onto U.S. military planes as the Taliban took over Kabul in August -- was not properly conducted. In fact, vetting was tossed aside to fulfill the narrative that the evacuation was a success and to juice up the airlift numbers.
As Spencer reported in October:
According to Hawley, the email was sent to his office by an "American official present in Afghanistan during the evacuation who was shocked" by the orders Biden gave in an email with the subject line "Presidential Directive."
The August 18 email describes a phone call between President Biden and U.S. Ambassador in Afghanistan Ross Wilson in which the president directed "who to clear to board evacuation flights" out of HKIA.
NEWS: This email was shared w/ me by an American official present jn Afghanistan during the evacuation who was shocked by Administration’s failure to vet Afghans before they were evacuated. Email details orders from Joe Biden to fill up the planes - even without vetting pic.twitter.com/LJq0dHlcm0
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) October 26, 2021
Since the evacuation, there have been a number of security incidents at U.S. military bases and installations housing unvetted Afghans.
The FBI is investigating a group of male Afghan refugees after they assaulted a female U.S. soldier in New Mexico.
"We can confirm a female service member supporting Operation Allies Welcome reported being assaulted on Sept. 19 by a small group of male evacuees at the Doña Ana Complex in New Mexico," Fort Bliss Public Affairs released in a statement Friday. "We take the allegation seriously and appropriately referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The safety and well-being of our service members, as well as all of those on our installations, is paramount."
Older men (pedophiles) arriving with underage girls as their brides has also been a problem.
U.S. officials are looking into reports that in the frantic evacuation of desperate Afghans from Kabul, older men were admitted together with young girls they claimed as “brides” or otherwise sexually abused.
U.S. officials at intake centers in the United Arab Emirates and in Wisconsin have identified numerous incidents in which Afghan girls have been presented to authorities as the “wives” of much older men. While child marriage is not uncommon in Afghanistan, the U.S. has strict policies against human trafficking that include prosecutions for offenders and sanctions for countries that don’t crack down on it.
One internal document seen by The Associated Press says the State Department has sought “urgent guidance” from other agencies after purported child brides were brought to Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. Another document, described to the AP by officials familiar with it, says Afghan girls at a transit site in Abu Dhabi have alleged they have been raped by older men they were forced to marry in order to escape Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Americans remain stranded in Afghanistan.
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