Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas shut down questions on how an Afghan man charged with planning an Election Day terrorist plot was permitted into the country even as lawmakers raised concerns about national security ahead of the November contest.
Mayorkas brushed off questions about how the man was allowed into the United States and details on what screening he underwent during the White House press briefing on Thursday. Instead, he redirected questions to the department’s hurricane relief efforts.
“I’d be very pleased to answer your question in a different setting, but we are here to talk about emergencies and support that we can deliver to people in desperate need,” Mayorkas said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre similarly dodged questions during the briefing, even as reporters pressed her on a recent NBC News report that the man arrested in the terrorist plot had previously worked as a security guard in Afghanistan for the CIA. Jean-Pierre declined to comment, noting the situation is still under “active investigation.”
“What I can say is every Afghan national who entered the U.S. was screened and vetted by intelligence, law enforcement, counterterrorism professionals,” she said. “With every new information that emerges that [an] individual poses a threat to public safety, we take immediate action, and we take that action.”
As top Biden administration officials avoid questions on the matter, lawmakers have begun pressing for answers about any threats from the Islamic State ahead of the 2024 election, particularly in relation to the refugees who entered the U.S. following the Biden administration’s military withdrawal in 2021.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) sent a letter to Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday demanding answers about Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, who was arrested in Oklahoma City on Monday after the agency uncovered his alleged plot to carry out a large-scale attack on public crowds on Election Day.
Tawhedi is believed to have entered the country during the chaotic U.S. military withdrawal from Kabul in 2021, prompting criticism of Republicans who have decried the Biden-Harris administration’s screening and vetting processes of the tens of thousands of Afghans it airlifted to the U.S. during that time.
Tawhedi had pledged support to ISIS, which the U.S. has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. He had also reportedly worked with a co-conspirator who entered the U.S. through the Special Immigrant Visas program, which was created for those who helped the U.S. during the Afghanistan War. A 14-step process is required to obtain this type of visa.
Green is pressing the federal departments for answers on how they vetted applicants, accusing the Biden administration of failing to “take measures to safeguard U.S. national security by allowing alleged terrorists into the interior of the United States to plot terrorist attacks.”
“These recent arrests raise serious concerns about the ongoing threat that ISIS and its fanatical supporters pose to U.S. national security, as well as the shortfall in the Biden-Harris administration’s screening and vetting capabilities,” Green said in a statement.
Other lawmakers have expressed concerns about the suspected terrorist plot, including Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who said he “was highly vocal about the need to thoroughly vet SIV applicants during, and in the weeks, months, and years following, the Biden-Harris administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) echoed similar sentiments, noting the arrest was “yet another indicator” that the Afghanistan withdrawal has put the safety of people in the U.S. at risk.
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Charging documents filed by federal prosecutors say Tawhedi told the FBI that he and his co-conspirator had planned to die as martyrs in an attack. The alleged terrorist had gone as far as ordering AK-47 rifles, taking steps to liquidate his family’s assets, and even purchasing one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel to Afghanistan, according to officials.
It’s not clear if Tawhedi entered by way of the southern border or was one of tens of thousands of Afghans airlifted out of Kabul only later to be paroled into the country.