Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration is reportedly blocking a bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers from being able to access a military facility run by the U.S. Military in Doha, Qatar, where thousands of Afghan nationals are being held prior to being released into the U.S.
“Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), who was part of a delegation that included House Foreign Affairs Committee members, told the Washington Free Beacon that lawmakers were barred from entering Camp As Sayliyah, an American-controlled compound where thousands of Afghan refugees are still being held since being airlifted to safety,” The Washington Free Beacon reported. “Issa’s office spent weeks petitioning the Department of Defense for access to these Afghan refugees on behalf of the delegation, but the lawmakers were denied access to the U.S.-controlled site when they arrived Thursday at Al Udeid Air Base in Doha for a scheduled briefing on the American evacuation effort.”
Issa said that the military “never let us meet with the 2,300 remaining America-bound refugees, maybe some of whom are American citizens and others who are green card holders.”
“We think the number one classified piece that they were protecting is called embarrassment,” Issa continued. “Many of these people have stories of the difficulty getting out, the lack of cooperation or help by the State Department, and now they find themselves being artificially held longer in some cases. We think it’s just that they don’t want people telling their stories.”
Issa said that at least one Democrat on the trip, Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA), was as “furious” about the situation as he was.
Issa indicated that the thousands of Afghan nationals who were brought to Doha and were later shipped to the U.S. had no paperwork or identification.
“They came with nothing,” Issa said. “No Afghan I.D., no I.D. of any sorts. Those people were all forwarded on to the U.S., and that’s quite an admission. So many people had no I.D. whatsoever and yet find themselves in the United States today based on what they said.”
The news comes as Fox News obtained draft documents this week from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) indicating that the Biden administration was planning to exempt some Taliban-era Afghan civil servants from terror-related bans that would normally prohibit them from being able to enter the United States.
The USCIS document obtained by Fox News states in part:
Many individuals who worked in civil service positions before the declaration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 1996 continued to do so after the declaration. Some did so under duress or other situations of hardship.
Some used their positions in humanitarian capacities to mitigate the repressive actions of the Taliban regime, often at great personal risk. Some of these civil servants later worked for or helped the International Security Assistance Force, the U.S. government or the Afghan government that was established in Dec. 22, 2001.
The administration’s screening process has already been the subject of controversy as numerous stories have surfaced about alleged crimes already being committed on U.S. soil by Afghan nationals brought to the U.S. in the wake of Democrat President Joe Biden’s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan.
Last month, the FBI launched an investigation into “the assault of a female Fort Bliss soldier by several male Afghan refugees at the Army’s Doña Ana Complex camp where thousands are currently being housed,” ABC-7 reported.
“We can confirm a female service member supporting Operation Allies Welcome reported being assaulted on Sept. 19 by a small group of male evacuees at the Doña Ana Complex in New Mexico,” Lt. Col. Allie Payne, director of Public Affairs for Fort Bliss and the 1st Armored Division, said in a statement. “We take the allegation seriously and appropriately referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The safety and well-being of our service members, as well as all of those on our installations, is paramount.”
Also in September, two Afghan refugees were hit with federal charges for allegedly trying to rape a minor and suffocate a woman. The two cases were unrelated.
“Bahrullah Noori, 20, is charged with attempting to engage in a sexual act with a minor using force against that person, and with three counts of engaging in a sexual act with a minor, with one count alleging the use of force,” the Department of Justice said in a statement. “The indictment alleges that the victims had not attained the age of 16 years and were at least four years younger than the defendant.”
“Mohammad Haroon Imaad, 32, is charged with assaulting his spouse by strangling and suffocating her,” the statement continued. “The indictment alleges that the assault occurred on September 7, 2021.”
Editor’s Note: The title of this article has been altered after publication for clarity.