“Vetting is happening when they come into the country and that was completely abandoned under Joe Biden’s administration. That’s the irresponsibility that has completely devastated our country, Kristen, put us in such a dangerous position,” Noem continued.
“I don’t think people realized when Joe Biden was in the White House exactly how he was allowing our country to be infiltrated with people that we didn’t know who they were, some of them, we did know were dangerous and went after as soon as they came into this country, but under this program we could have up to 100,000 people that came in from Afghanistan that may be here to do us harm,” the Homeland Security secretary added.
Lakanwal, however, wasn’t just a known entity to U.S. officials—he was a foreign partner with U.S. intelligence services. He worked with the CIA as a partner in Afghanistan for more than a decade before U.S. troops withdrew from the region. Lakanwal, who entered the U.S. in 2021, always struggled with PTSD, his family told CNN.
