EXCLUSIVE: Second MAJOR Felon Found on Afghan Evacuation Flight
WASHINGTON TIMES | By Stephen Dinan | September 16, 2021
Another Afghan who had been deported from the U.S. after an aggravated felony conviction was found on an evacuation flight back to the U.S. this month, The Washington Times has learned.
The man, who had a 2011 conviction for aggravated robbery and was deported in 2017, somehow cleared all the overseas checks the Biden administration says it is making. He was flagged only when he arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport, making it tougher to oust him.
His case follows that of Ghader Heydari, an Afghan who was convicted of rape in Idaho in 2010 and was deported in 2017, but who also made it onto an evacuation flight and landed at Dulles.
They are among tens of thousands of Afghans who have reached the U.S., and their arrivals signal potential problems within that broader population over how they are being vetted.
“A lot of time and effort and taxpayer dollars have gone into removing dangerous individuals from our society. In one fell swoop, we’re simply going to return them to the U.S. without thinking ahead of the consequences,” said Jon Feere, a former chief of staff at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and now director of investigations at the Center for Immigration Studies.
Both convicts were flagged by Customs and Border Protection officers.
Some analysts have argued that their flagging proves the process is working, while others say the fact that they reached U.S. soil is worrying because it creates a series of rights and erects significant hurdles to getting rid of them again.
Sheriff Kieran Donahue in Canyon County, Idaho, which borders Ada County, where Heydari was convicted of rape, noted another consideration: the potential impact on the victims of their crimes.
“This guy’s a threat. And the United States — the Biden administration — brought him here,” Sheriff Donahue said.
In Heydari’s case, the known rape victim has been alerted, he said, though the sheriff couldn’t say any more to protect the person’s identity.
Heydari is being held at an ICE detention facility in Virginia.
The robbery convict also was put into deportation proceedings, according to a document The Washington Times has reviewed. He has expressed a fear of being sent back to Afghanistan, which is the first step to block another deportation.
He likely is not eligible for asylum because of his felony. Aggravated robbery is a serious offense involving the use of a weapon or threats of force. Still, he could argue against removal under the Convention Against Torture.
It’s not clear whether the two cases were mistakes that should have been blocked overseas or whether they signal a broader policy in which aggravated felony records and previous deportations are not considered grounds for blocking an evacuee.
The Washington Times reached the Department of Homeland Security, which did not answer that question, though it acknowledged that sending back convicts could be difficult right now.
“Removal decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account a range of considerations. At this point, we are not removing individuals to Afghanistan,” the department said.
