Afghan resettlement endangers our communities

Following the Biden Administration’s completely mismanaged withdrawal from Afghanistan, I have been extremely vocal in opposition to the mass evacuation and resettlement of Afghan nationals in America. I knew when I took this stance it would be controversial, but I believed then—as I do now—that the rushed evacuation and resettlement of tens of thousands of unvetted Afghan nationals in America poses a serious threat to the safety and security of our communities and our nation.

We were told that the Afghans being brought to the United States were allies who helped our country, and that it was our duty to bring them to America. That was a lie. Only three percent of the Afghan evacuees that were brought to America possess Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) that were awarded to those that aided America. In fact, the vast majority of Afghans brought in were ineligible for SIVs—they just happened to board an American plane during the rushed evacuation.

We were told that these Afghans were thoroughly and fully vetted. That too was a lie. The vast majority did not complete the 14-step vetting process—which typically takes 18-24 months to complete—that is required to obtain a visa. Instead, they were paroled into the country by Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with little-to-no vetting. Further, recent reports shine a light on the concerning lack of rigor in the Biden Administration’s “screening” process. Afghans often had no identification, couldn’t provide their date of birth or any identifying information, and yet Biden’s DHS accepted whatever identity they claimed, allowing them into our Country as long as the identity they claimed was not in any U.S. database as having affiliation with terrorist groups. Even this wasn’t always the case, as more than 10 Afghan evacuees who were on terrorist watch lists were allowed into the United States—and those are just the instances we know of.

As I cautioned, the results have been tragic. We have already seen numerous instances of violence committed by Afghan evacuees against American citizens. In Missoula, an Afghan evacuee has been charged with raping an 18-year-old girl, his lawyer attempted to explain it away as being due to “cultural and language barriers.” In separate incidents at Fort McCoy, two Afghan evacuees were charged with child and spousal sex abuse crimes. In another incident at Fort Bliss, a group of Afghan evacuees allegedly assaulted a female servicemember. The Department of Justice has announced they were investigating “several” cases of male evacuees that brought child brides to the United States. These horrific instances of violence are completely contrary to the values of America and show the extreme risks that these unvetted Afghans pose to our communities and our nation.

This is why I introduced H.R. 5572, the SECURE America Act, to protect our citizens from unvetted foreign nationals. The bill would reform the process for refugee admission and resettlement, including ensuring thorough refugee vetting prior to admission, ending the authority of DHS to parole unvetted individuals into the country, and reclaiming the authority of Congress and Governors in the process of admission and resettlement. Further, I have called on the Biden Administration to immediately halt the resettlement of Afghan nationals in America, and urged them to begin removing Afghan evacuees that have already been brought to the United States, returning them to countries in the Middle East that more closely share the culture and values of these Afghans.

I believe that elected leaders must prioritize justice and security for Americans, instead of caving to the negligent open border policies of the radical Left which put our citizens at risk. We cannot compromise the security of our nation in the name of empathy. If we don’t know who is coming into our country and can’t screen for security risks, we let our guard down and aid the enemies that seek to harm our nation. I believe the American people deserve an immigration system that ensures our national security, our fundamental American values, and American way of life are protected and preserved. I will continue to work to make that a reality.

Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale serves as Montana’s at-large Representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior, he served as Montana State Auditor, as a member of the Montana House of Representatives, and as a member of the Montana Senate, where he served as the Senate Majority Leader.