Report: Biden-Era Afghan Refugee Program Had a 40% Error Rate, Potentially Bringing Terrorists and Other Dangerous Criminals into the United States

 

A lawsuit against the Biden Administration’s DHS forced USCIS to adjudicate 90% of the program’s asylum applications within 150 days

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement after a report by the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) revealed that a Biden-era program to admit Afghan refugees had a 40% error rate in adjudicating asylum claims, which put the United States at risk of admitting potential terrorists and other dangerous criminals.

Operation Allies Welcome (OAW) was established under the Biden Administration by the Afghanistan Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022, which required U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to interview an OAW asylum applicant within 45 days of the filing of the application, with no exceptions. In April 2023, a group of plaintiffs sued Biden’s DHS in Ahmed vs. DHS, with the lawsuit being settled in September 2023. As a result of the settlement, DHS ordered USCIS to adjudicate 90% of OAW asylum applications within 150 days.

Following complaints from USCIS employees warning that the rushed timeline would hinder the agency’s ability to comprehensively review each application, the OIG conducted its own evaluation of the process from March 2024 to January 2025. The OIG report determined that there was a 40% error rate in the adjudication of OAW asylum files, with USCIS missing opportunities to potentially link alias names provided by applicants to information that could have made them ineligible for asylum.

“Our asylum system should be as strict as possible. If even one dangerous criminal or terrorist slips through and enters our country, it endangers countless American lives,” said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. “The Biden Administration dangerously mismanaged the Operation Allies Welcome program, disregarding all the thorough and well-established procedures of our asylum system and putting our nation at risk. Unlike the Biden Administration, the Trump Administration is putting the American people first and bringing an end to these reckless and rushed asylum practices.”

Operation Allies Welcome resulted in many criminal aliens being released into the country under the Biden Administration, including those convicted for lewd or lascivious acts with a minor, sexual battery, hit-and-run, drug possession, and kidnapping. Other examples include:

• In November 2025, DHS assisted the FBI in the arrest of an Afghan national who entered the United States under OAW and was federally charged for threatening to kill Americans and others.
• In December 2025, ICE arrested a member of ISIS-K who was allowed to enter the United States under OAW.
• In March 2026, ICE and USCIS arrested an Afghan national, allowed into the country by OAW, who had previously been convicted of indecent exposure to a minor.