Biden administration gave protected status to Afghans despite terrorism flags

The Biden administration approved temporary protected status, a form of deportation amnesty, for Afghan migrants with indications of terrorism in their histories, The Washington Times has learned.

In addition, officials said, dozens of people who applied for status were caught using multiple identities in their dealings with the U.S. government, suggesting a significant potential for fraud and possible national security concerns.

Citing those concerns, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will announce this week an official end to temporary protected status for Afghans. Deportation protections will be removed from nearly 10,000 people approved during the Biden administration.

“This administration is returning TPS to its original temporary intent,” Ms. Noem said. “We’ve reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our interagency partners, and they do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation. Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevents them from returning to their home country.

“Additionally, the termination furthers the national interest as DHS records indicate that there are recipients who have been under investigation for fraud and threatening our public safety and national security,” she said.

Among the troubling cases the Trump administration found was a person vetted with an FBI-led joint terrorism task force and “confirmed” to have national security concerns. Another had indicators of involvement in insurgent or terrorist activity.

Both were approved for temporary protected status.

The Department of Homeland Security flagged an approved Afghan as having “articulable links to national security concerns.” Another had a classified criminal history in the Department of Defense intelligence databases.

Others gave one identity to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services when applying for status but used a different name and birth date with the government at another time, such as during an encounter with U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Officials said they found 55 applicants who had used multiple identities.

“Bad actors are taking advantage of this humanitarian program,” said Matthew Tragesser, chief of public affairs at USCIS. “President Trump and Secretary Noem are taking decisive action to make America safe again.”

Temporary protected status allows migrants who usually lack other legal status to remain in the U.S.

The program is intended for those from countries hit by natural disasters, who have a medical emergency or who face unrest at home. It is designed to give countries a chance to recover without citizens streaming home and to give migrants a haven in the meantime.

The status is supposed to last only as long as a country is recovering from disaster or instability.

The Biden administration expanded the program from about 300,000 people in early 2021 to more than 1 million as of December.

Venezuelans dominate with more than 500,000, Haiti has some 260,000, and El Salvador is third with about 175,000. They have been in the U.S. under protection since 2001. About 55,000 Hondurans and Nicaraguans have been in the U.S. under temporary protected status since the end of the last century.

Trump officials say those long-term cases have made a mockery of the word “temporary.”

Ms. Noem said Afghanistan’s security and economic conditions have improved enough for citizens to return home. The department said they no longer face immediate threats to their safety.

Ms. Noem has been moving to roll back other grants but has faced legal resistance.

A federal judge in California, for example, blocked Ms. Noem’s rollback of Venezuelans’ temporary protected status.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to step in and allow the revocation to proceed.

Tens of thousands of Afghans streamed to the U.S. around the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in 2021. Some had legal permission to enter, but most did not. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas used “parole” powers to admit them anyway.

Several inspectors general have reported on vetting failures for parolees, including national security risks, who entered the country after the government missed red flags in their backgrounds.

The Washington Times has reported on criminal entanglements and fraud concerns for Afghan arrivals, many of whom were listed with bogus birth dates in U.S. government files.

Despite those reports, Mr. Mayorkas granted Afghans an 18-month temporary protected status in 2022 and renewed it in 2023. The extended 18-month grant expires on May 20.

Homeland Security previously revealed to reporters Ms. Noem’s decision to end temporary protected status for Afghans. She is expected to publish a notice in the Federal Register, officially starting the clock on the wind-down.

CASA, an immigrant rights group, has sued to stop her. It said she was required under law to formally publish her decision two months before the May 20 deadline.

The group told the judge that the missed deadline means an automatic six-month extension of the status for Afghans and about 3,500 from Cameroon. CASA said Ms. Noem also missed that deadline.