Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas admitted to Congress on Wednesday that an employee who was exposed by The Daily Wire as a Hamas supporter remains on the Department of Homeland Security payroll, even as she gloats about her employment online.
Nejwa Ali was placed on leave following The Daily Wire’s report on October 18 about her posts celebrating the Hamas attacks on Israel that killed more than 1,000. At the close of a Wednesday congressional hearing about DHS finances, Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), who chairs the subcommittee responsible for the agency’s funding, asked Mayorkas whether Ali was still on the payroll.
“Since we’re talking about finances here… after the horrific terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, one of your employees was exposed celebrating the attack online. It was later revealed that she previously worked for the [Palestinian] Liberation Organization, or what’s commonly known as the PLO, which is a very troublesome reputation, you’d agree. According to a public comment she made on LinkedIn as of two months ago, she was still getting paid by the department… What is the status of the investigation into her behavior?”
Mayorkas said that the “individual is on administrative leave, not performing the duties and responsibilities for which she was hired,” but that “the investigation is ongoing” and that he “cannot speak any further about it because it is an ongoing personnel matter.”
BREAKING: DHS Secretary Mayorkas confirms to @RepDaveJoyce that a Hamas-supporting employee remains on the payroll, even as she gloats online about her paid vacation. Nejwa Ali, a former PLO spokesman hired to vet refugees, is unrepentant but an "investigation" has taken 6 months pic.twitter.com/fbykxHh1aP
— Luke Rosiak (@lukerosiak) April 10, 2024
Ali was a spokeswoman for the PLO who was hired by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after the PLO was banned from Washington. Her job was to vet people who claimed to qualify for asylum, reviewing evidence to “determine fraud of security concerns” and to “perform credible fear interviews” that determine whether the person is actually fleeing persecution, or is just lying to get into the country.
She posted incessantly on various social media platforms almost exclusively about Israel, with her bio saying she is “Palestinian @ heart.” That included sharing an image glorifying the Hamas hang-gliders parachuting into a music concert with guns.
“F*** Israel and any Jew that supports Israel,” said one of her comments.
Agency spokesman Matthew Bourke told The Daily Wire at the time that it “strongly condemns anti-Semitism and the use of violent rhetoric in any form.” Yet she remains on the payroll, even though she openly admits her support for terrorism.
Ali has used her paid leave to protest in front of the Israel embassy during work hours, and to dox military members there, The Daily Wire reported in December.
Since then, she has gloated on LinkedIn about Mayorkas’ refusal to fire her. When someone posted, “USCIS [please] review your employee’s posts,” she replied, “yes, please do!”
When someone wrote, “When you do everything you can to get fired but the boss says NO” she replied with a stream of laughing emotions and wrote, “hilarious, seriously.”
When someone posted that Ali “hasn’t yet been fired by” Mayorkas, Ali commented that she was “still laughing too. #freePalestine from APARTHEID Israel.”
When a military member commented on another one of her anti-Israel rants that “this is why you’ve been fired from your homeland security job,” she said: “I’m still being paid, but thanks… You’re a privileged white woman.”
Another LinkedIn user said, “Nejwa, as much as I believe in free speech and every American being entitled to develop and express their own opinion, tha [sic] ends when you’re a representative of the US and mpre [sic] implicitly, when dealing with immigration with the very people you are calling for total annihilation against.”
Ali replied: “Listen white women, shut the F*** UP.”
Joyce, the congressman, asked Mayorkas if others had also been investigated for Hamas loyalty, and Mayorkas said he was not aware of any. Mayorkas indicated that its vetting process had not been updated, but insisted that “individuals who are hired go through a clearing process.”
Reached by The Daily Wire following her initial posts, Ali confirmed her support for terrorists: “I abso-f—ing-lutely celebrate them, a–hole, f— you!” Ali said, in a call that was recorded by The Daily Wire.
UPDATE: DHS/USCIS says the former PLO spox has been placed on administrative leave from her job vetting immigrants.
PLUS NEW AUDIO: She reaffirmed her allegiance to Hamas THIS AFTERNOON, saying of hang-gliders: "I abso-fucking-lutely celebrate them, asshole, fuck you!" https://t.co/BJry1EisZe pic.twitter.com/FPrQbjAPak
— Luke Rosiak (@lukerosiak) October 18, 2023