By Joe Chatham
FAIR
A 27-year-old Afghan citizen, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, was arrested by the FBI on October 7 in Oklahoma City and charged with plotting to carry out a terrorist attack on Election Day. According to reports, the suspected terrorist entered the United States and was released on immigration parole, an authority that has been severely abused by the Biden-Harris administration.
Tawhedi attracted FBI attention while selling assets to raise money to execute the attack. According to FBI officials, Tawhedi sold the family home and purchased one-way plane tickets to Afghanistan for his wife, daughter, mother-in-law, and five of his wife’s siblings. After FBI sources established contact with him, the FBI says Tawhedi and his brother-in-law (also an Afghan national) purchased two AK-47 rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition from the FBI, leading to the arrest of both.
U.S. officials say Tawhedi expected to die in the attack and planned to carry it out in support of ISIS, a group officially designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States.
Since his arrest, many have asked how Tawhedi entered the U.S. in the first place. NBC News reported that Tawhedi worked as a security guard for the CIA. And, while the Department of Justice (DOJ) did not confirm that report, it said in its criminal complaint that Tawhedi entered the country on September 9, 2021, on a special immigrant visa (SIV) intended to help foreign nationals who assisted the U.S. government in Afghanistan, just weeks after Kabul was taken over by the Taliban. Once in the U.S., according to the DOJ complaint, he was then granted immigration parole pending immigration proceedings.
Shortly thereafter, however, the State Department contradicted the DOJ, saying that Tawhedi did not enter the U.S. on an SIV. When asked last Thursday about the discrepancy, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Mayorkas refused to clarify. That day, CBS News reported that a DHS official anonymously said Tawhedi entered the country on parole through Operation Allies Welcome (OAW) and was waiting for his green card via the SIV program. It is unclear why the DOJ stated otherwise in its complaint. The complaint also notes that Tawhedi’s brother-in-law entered the country on March 27, 2018, on an SIV and is a legal permanent resident.
The roots of the Special Immigrant Visa program date back more than a decade. In 2009, Congress passed the Afghan Allies Protection Act, providing 1,500 SIVs per year through Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 for Afghan nationals who had served as translators or interpreters, or who were employed by or on behalf of the United States, and whose safety was threatened as a result. After FY2013, Congress has repeatedly allocated additional visas to the program, primarily through “must-pass” legislation such as annual spending or defense bills. As the program has expanded so has criticism of it.
While this program was available to assist a select number of Afghans who helped the U.S. government, when Afghanistan rapidly collapsed the Biden-Harris administration wanted to find a way to move tens of thousands of Afghans out of the country whether or not they qualified for SIVs. To process more Afghans faster, the Biden-Harris administration circumvented the SIV process entirely by illegally paroling tens of thousands of Afghan refugees, some who were seeking SIVs and others who were not, through Operation Allies Welcome (OAW). In total, under OAW, around 77,000 Afghan evacuees were released into the U.S. on parole for two-year, renewable periods.
While Americans were led to believe that the 2021 Afghanistan evacuation effort was intended to save Americans and Afghan military allies, many of those who were evacuated did not help the United States, and many had poor or incomplete vetting. In August 2022, just a year after the disastrous withdrawal, whistleblower allegations emerged that 324 Afghan evacuees on a Department of Defense (DOD) watchlist for national security threats were allowed into the country after the agency was directed to cut corners in vetting and fingerprint tests. Then, in September 2022, the DHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report revealing that DHS encountered numerous obstacles in the screening and vetting of Afghan evacuees.
Incredibly, even with the significant vetting concerns surrounding OAW and the SIV program, many in Congress continue pushing to bring more Afghan nationals into the United States. Along with advocating for more SIVs, some Members of Congress support the Afghan Adjustment Act (AAA), which would legalize the population by providing green cards for Afghan parolees who fled the country in 2021. However, as noted by FAIR, the proposed legislation fails to close loopholes or address critical vetting shortfalls.
Many prominent Republican lawmakers were quick to call for improved vetting and policy reforms following Tawhedi’s arrest. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) and Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence Chairman August Pfluger (R-Texas) wrote in a joint statement: [w]hen tens of thousands of insufficiently vetted individuals are let into the interior, this is the inevitable result…We appreciate the efforts of law enforcement in thwarting this alleged terror plot on Election Day, but President Biden and Vice President Harris must reverse course on their misguided policies and put the safety and security of the American people first.” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was blunt in his assessment, stating, “[w]hether it’s their open border policies or failed foreign policy, this administration continues to risk American lives by allowing terrorists, murders, rapists, and other violent criminals into our homeland.”
Tawhedi has been charged with attempting to provide support for ISIS, carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years, and receiving a firearm to commit a felony or crime of terrorism, carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years. He appeared in court last Tuesday, without entering a plea, and remains in custody.
