Federal immigration officers on Wednesday arrested another Afghan national brought into the United States through President Biden’s evacuation initiative, charging him with aiding a terrorist organization and supplying weapons to a militia commander abroad.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took Jaan Shah Safi into custody in Waynesboro, Virginia, on allegations that he provided material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria–Khorasan, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Safi’s case marks the third arrest in one week of an Afghan evacuee admitted under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome program.
“Today, our heroic ICE officers arrested Jaan Shah Safi, a terrorist who provided material support to ISIS-K,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said. “The Biden administration brought this terrorist into the U.S. under the disastrous Operation Allies Welcome program.”
Noem emphasized that the arrest occurred near the nation’s capital, “where our brave National Guard heroes, Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe, were shot just days ago by another unvetted Afghan terrorist brought into our country.”
Safi entered the United States on September 8, 2021, through the Philadelphia International Airport under Operation Allies Welcome. DHS records show he later applied for Temporary Protected Status, which would have shielded him from deportation, but his application was terminated earlier this year after Noem rescinded TPS for Afghan nationals.
Officials allege Safi also provided weapons to his father, a commander of an Afghan militia group, in addition to supporting ISIS-K operations.
His arrest follows two violent incidents involving other Afghan evacuees. On November 26, Rahmanullah Lakanwal allegedly opened fire on two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., killing West Virginia Army National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and critically wounding Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe. The previous day, Mohammad Dawood Alokozay was arrested in Fort Worth, Texas, after allegedly making bomb threats, according to the FBI and local authorities.
All three men—Safi, Lakanwal, and Alokozay—entered the U.S. through Operation Allies Welcome. Nearly 190,000 Afghan nationals were admitted under the program during the 2021 military withdrawal from Afghanistan, a process federal officials now say lacked proper vetting.
“The Biden administration created one of the worst national security crises in American history,” Noem said. “Biden let into our country nearly 190,000 unvetted Afghan aliens — only determining who they were and their intentions when they were already on American soil.”
“President Trump has been working every day since January 20 to clean up this unmitigated national security crisis,” she added.
In response to the recent violence, the Trump administration has sharply restricted asylum processing for all foreign nationals and suspended immigration from 19 countries designated as high-risk. In late November, Trump also publicly supported ending immigration from Third World nations.
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