During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas gave alarming figures about the 60,000 Afghan evacuees who are already in the United States.
Appearing to confirm previous reporting that a “majority” of Special Immigrant Visa holders were left behind in Afghanistan—Mayorkas said only about 3 percent, or roughly 1,800, of those who have come so far are SIVs. Furthermore, 7 percent are U.S. citizens while 6 percent are lawful permanent residents.
“The balance of that population are individuals whose applications have not yet been processed for approval who may qualify as SIVs and have not yet applied, who qualify, or would qualify, I should say, as P1 or P2 refugees who have been employed by the United States government in Afghanistan and are otherwise vulnerable Afghan nationals, such as journalists, human rights advocates, etc.,” he said.
The two questions were always: 1) Who did we leave behind? and 2) Who did we bring out? Still no answers. https://t.co/vjLNhv14iY
— Byron York (@ByronYork) September 21, 2021
Stellar job, @StateDept https://t.co/P71VAsfWHs
— Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) September 21, 2021
Biden’s sloppy and rushed pull out of Afghanistan and the thousands of “unknown riders” now in the US will prove to be a modern day Trojan Horse to our nation’s security. https://t.co/S3Fzm0fDdE
— Mike Garcia (@ElectMikeGarcia) September 21, 2021
Earlier this month, a State Department official told reporters in a private briefing that those who helped with the evacuation effort are “haunted” by the decisions they had to make and “by the people we were not able to help depart.”
Mayorkas also said during the hearing that almost none of the Afghans looking to resettle in the U.S. are being denied.
“So since the first of August, how many Afghan refugees have been denied acceptance into the United States?” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) asked.
“I don’t have that number at my fingertips. I know it is very de minimis," the DHS secretary responded. “We have not found many people with derogatory information relative to those who qualify for admission to the United States by reason of their status."