Afghan evacuee vetting process 'fragmented' with 'vulnerabilities,' watchdog warns

The Department of Homeland Security's independent watchdog has found a "fragmented" and "siloed" approach to resolving "derogatory information" for Afghan evacuees.

Of the 97,000 evacuees who came to the U.S. in the wake of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, 79% (about 77,000) were granted humanitarian parole into the United States for two years. Parole is a congressionally granted authority that allows the government to permit entry to noncitizens for either urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.

He can be reached at adam.shaw2@fox.com or on Twitter.

During that parole process, Afghans were screened, vetted and inspected by federal agencies, including a review of any derogatory information that may ultimately lead to a rejection of parole – whether it be national security concerns, criminal convictions or something else.