(Daily Caller News Foundation) — Wisconsin Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany sent a letter Friday to the Biden administration, demanding transparency about the vetting of Afghan evacuees brought to the U.S.
In his letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Tiffany expressed concerns about reports of Afghan men arriving in the country “with child brides or who were part of ‘polygamous families.’”
The reports point to cases of Afghan women and girls forced into marriages with Afghan men eligible for evacuation in order to escape Taliban control.
“These troubling reports of child sex trafficking and polygamy, coupled with previous reports of Afghan nationals with possible connections to terrorist groups and at least one convicted rapist who had been previously deported making their way on to evacuation flights, only serve to fuel growing doubts about these assurances,” Tiffany wrote.
He added: “Nearly a month after the evacuation began, it remains unclear exactly how and where evacuees are being vetted.”
The letter also raised questions about possible COVID-19 cases and measles within temporary shelters housing Afghan evacuees. Tiffany recently visited Ft. McCoy, where he asked officials dealing with the issue firsthand about the same concerns.
The U.S. had previously “temporarily halted” flights from Afghanistan due to four confirmed measles cases, and, four days later, six Afghan refugees tested positive for measles in Virginia and Wisconsin.
Tiffany also accused the administration of “sidestepping standard visa rules” to allow thousands of Afghans into the country.
The letter concluded, “The American public deserves clear answers to the questions that the administration’s conflicting and often contradictory statements regarding the now-accelerated vetting process raise — particularly given that the Afghan government no longer exists, and thus cannot confirm the identities, backgrounds and claims put forward by Afghans seeking legal status in the U.S.”
Blinken admitted Tuesday before a congressional committee that a majority of Afghans evacuated on U.S. military planes weren’t vetted before boarding flights. Some of those evacuated were flagged as possible national security risks.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation that a thorough screening and vetting process is conducted before evacuees are allowed entry into the U.S. If someone fails the checks while still overseas, that person will not be allowed to board a flight to the U.S., according to the spokesperson.
The spokesperson added: ” … all vulnerable Afghans are required to undergo the same process as other persons arriving from outside the U.S.: namely, additional inspection upon arrival and a secondary inspection as the circumstances require. If, upon landing in the United States, further security vetting at the port of entry raises a concern about a person, CBP has the authority to not grant them entry into the United States.”
The State Department declined to comment.
