Another Afghan evacuee is revealed to be a felon: Robber deported from US in 2017 is identified among arrivals after rapist was arrested in DC having caught a flight out of Kabul
Another Afghanistan evacuee who has recently arrived in the United States has been revealed to be a convicted felon who was deported from America four years ago.
This is the second recent case of a felon coming over from Afghanistan as America tries to bring over people seeking freedom from the Taliban's return to power in the country.
The unidentified man was convicted of aggravated robbery in 2011. He was deported in 2017.
He got through the Biden administration's vetting process, boarding a flight to Washington Dulles International Airport to come to the country.
Another Afghanistan evacuee who has recently arrived in the United States has been revealed to be a convicted felon who was deported from America four years ago
A convicted rapist who was deported from the US in 2017 was recently arrested at Dulles after catching Ethiopian Airlines evacuation flight out of Kabul.
Ghader Heydari, 47, boarded a flight for evacuees but was flagged by border officials upon arrival into Washington.
A man whose name and age match Heydari‘s pleaded guilty to rape in Ada County, Idaho, in 2010, and he served more than five years in prison. According to The Washington Times, Heydari came to the US as a refugee and was granted a green card in 2000.
It's not clear how he got on the flight because it was 'unlikely' that he had a Special Immigrant Visa or that he was a refugee.
Evacuees are supposed to be undergoing security screening at transit hubs outside the U.S. before being allowed to enter the country, and Heydari may have slipped through.
A senior administration also said that his rape conviction was not enough to keep him off the flight due to the extreme nature of the humanitarian crisis.
He was being held at the Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green, Virginia, according to DailyWire, after border officials spotted his criminal and immigration history.
When Heydari arrived in the US on the evacuation flight, officials tried to persuade him to cancel his request to enter but he appears to have refused.
An Idaho sheriff said that his victim has been alerted about Heydari’s return to the country.
The U.S. evacuated 13,400 people from Kabul in late August, taking the evacuees to bases in Qatar, Bahrain or Germany before they return to the states.
They flew 5,100 people out of Kabul on US military planes. Another 8,300 were saved by coalition flights. The total - 13,400 - was drastically less than the 19,000 rescued the previous day.
Customs and Border protection flagged both felons' arrival in the United States.
The unidentified man is now in deportation proceedings.
Department of Homeland Security and State Department officials would not immediately comment about the specific cases.
ICE deported over 200 people from the United States to Afghanistan between 2012 and 2020.
The unidentified man was convicted of aggravated robbery in 2011. He was deported in 2017
President Biden has steadfastly defended the exit from Afghanistan amid criticism of many aspects of the withdrawal.
A defiant Biden said in late August that the operation couldn't have been done in a 'more orderly manner' and 'respectfully disagreed' with critics who said he should have started the evacuation sooner to avoid the chaos.
The president also hailed the 120,000 people they have gotten to safety in 'one of the biggest airlifts in history', vowed to keep working to get Afghan allies out and said the State Department had reached out to stranded Americans 19 times since March asking if they wanted to leave.
Biden spoke passionately as he defended his actions, at times waving his arms and gripping the podium, amid intense criticism from Democrats, many Republicans and fellow world leaders about his handling of the U.S. drawdown.
Biden has steadfastly defended the exit from Afghanistan amid criticism of many aspects of the withdrawal
