Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday that his department has flagged some Afghan evacuees as potential security risks and blocked them from reaching the U.S., and he vowed to make America’s safety the core of the airlift.
Mr. Mayorkas, in his first briefing on the airlift, said those who reach the U.S. will be resettled in the country, and said it’s a commitment the U.S. owes to those who helped the American effort or who face dangers from the Taliban takeover of their home country.
He confirmed reports that people have been flagged as security risks and blocked. But he didn’t reveal what has happened to those people.
“We are working with our international allies to address the disposition of those individuals,” he said.
Multiple news reports have said authorities matched as many as 100 evacuated Afghans to identities on government watch lists. None of those appeared to have reached the U.S, the reports said.
Mr. Mayorkas said his department, which has been designated the lead of a vast government operation to bring people to the country, is overseeing multiple layers of security checks, including at military bases overseas, while people are on flights to the U.S. and again when they arrive at airports.
The Washington Times reported this week about one Afghan man who had a rape conviction and previous deportation from the U.S. but who did make it onto a flight and into the country. He was flagged by Customs and Border Protection officers at Washington Dulles International Airport and is in a detention facility run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Mr. Mayorkas did not offer many new details about the population, repeating data other administration officials had already revealed about the number of people who have reached the U.S.
He declined to speculate on how many Afghans the country should expect to resettle, other than to say it would be more than 50,000. He said the numbers are still too “fluid” at this point, and the Biden administration still expects to facilitate more Afghans being able to leave, so any count now is premature.
He projected confidence in the mission, though.
“We can do this, and we can protect the American public, and we can pronounce through our actions the generosity and nobility of the American public,” he said.
More than 120,000 people were evacuated from Afghanistan, and 40,000 of them have reached the U.S.
Some were U.S. citizens, some were legal permanent residents of other nationalities, and some are Afghans who assisted the American military’s efforts and earned, or are on the path to earn, a special visa.
But Mr. Mayorkas said the country also is bringing in others, including “vulnerable Afghan women and girls, journalists and other constituencies that need our relief.”
He was unable to say how many are special visa holders and how many have been brought in using his humanitarian parole powers, though in a fact sheet issued later his department said “most” will be brought to the country through parole.
Their parole is good for two years and gives them a chance to seek a more permanent legal status such as claiming asylum.
Parolees will be issued work permits but will be subject to conditions such as going through medical screenings and vaccinations, and regular check-ins.
All new arrivals, including U.S. citizens, are being tested for COVID-19. The government is picking up the bill.
U.S. citizens and legal residents can head home once they clear testing. Parolees are encouraged to go to one of eight military bases where government employees are working to process them and provide them with adjustment assistance.
But Mr. Mayorkas indicated that was voluntary, and one congressman has told The Washington Times that some Afghans have walked off a base in Wisconsin.