A federal report now shows that the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome program, designed to bring Afghans into the United States—including the suspect National Guardsmen shooter—was full of errors and didn’t properly track refugees once they arrived.
The shortcomings of the program, which Biden pushed through in 2021, were highlighted in a Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report released last year.
The review found that the system used to record arrivals was marred by data mistakes and glitches that would have made it tough for immigration officials to locate “biographic or criminal history data.”
In a few cases, Afghan applicants were given multiple identification numbers or their names were misspelled.
“[Immigration] personnel must have accurate information on individuals to maintain the integrity of adjudication and enforcement processes,” the report said.
“Data errors can hinder USCIS and ICE staff from quickly and accurately identifying people in the OAW population, and from linking them to correct biographic or criminal history data.”
After the Afghans made it to U.S. soil, the report noted that there was no system to closely monitor when their parole dates expired.
“We discovered that DHS has no procedure to watch parole expirations for individual OAW parolees and has not assigned anyone to track this,” the report added. “CBP, USCIS, and ICE officials consistently believed this fell outside their responsibilities.”
This comes after federal officials confirmed that Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the man involved in last week’s shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., had entered the country under the program.
Lakanwal applied for asylum in December of last year and was granted it in April, a Trump‑era official confirmed.
The 29‑year‑old, who lived in Washington state, had no known criminal history, the official added.
The Biden‑era initiative was launched to resettle thousands of Afghans who had helped the United States during the Afghanistan war and who feared retaliation from the Taliban after the U.S. troop withdrawal.
The program allowed roughly 90,000 Afghans to qualify for Special Immigration Visas and offered them immigration processing and resettlement support.
Following the shooting, President Trump said his administration would “re‑examine” all Afghans who came to the United States during Biden’s presidency.
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