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FIRST ON FOX: An Afghan national let into the country during the Biden administration has been arrested by the Department of Homeland Security following a conviction for indecent exposure to a minor.
Basir Ahmad Safi, who is in his 30s, was arrested by DHS on March 11, according to the agency. Before his conviction for indecent exposure to a minor, Safi was charged with lewd or lascivious exhibition, soliciting a child via computer, unlawful use of a two-way communications device and child abuse.
He was admitted to the country in 2021 under former President Joe Biden’s “Operation Allies Welcome,” according to the agency. Two years later, in September 2023, Safi was arrested in Florida by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on those charges.
In an emailed statement to Fox News Digital, DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis slammed the Biden administration for having allowed “this unvetted Afghan pedophile” in the U.S.
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“He should NEVER have been allowed into our country or given the opportunity to prey on innocent children,” wrote Bis.
DHS said Safi was arrested as part of a joint investigation by Homeland Security Investigations Jacksonville and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. By the time of his arrest, Safi’s status had been revoked, and he was unlawfully residing in the U.S., DHS said. Safi is being held in ICE custody pending removal.
This comes after Rahmanullah Lakanwal, another Afghan national allowed into the country under Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome, shot two U.S. National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C. One of the service members, Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, of the West Virginia National Guard, died from her injuries. The other, Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically wounded but survived.
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According to DHS, the Biden-era Operation Allies Welcome relied on “unvetted referrals” to allow nearly 190,000 Afghan nationals into the country. The agency said those admitted into the U.S. included terrorists, sexual predators, pedophiles, domestic abusers and kidnappers
DHS said that “understanding this massive threat to American national security,” President Donald Trump halted Biden’s Afghan refugee resettlement program almost immediately after returning to the Oval Office. Months later, Trump suspended the entry of all Afghan nationals into the U.S.
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Bis said that “under President Trump’s leadership, DHS has been focused on identifying, arresting, and removing public safety threats like Basir Ahmad Safi from our country.”
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A spokesperson for former President Biden did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
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