Email Shows Biden Ordered Afghanistan Evacuation Flights Be Filled With Unvetted Refugees

During America’s chaotic exit from Afghanistan earlier this year, the Biden administration issued a directive that evacuation flights be filled to “excess” with refugees who had not been properly vetted before arriving in America, according to an internal administration communication disclosed on Tuesday by Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.).

“Total inflow to the U.S. must exceed the number of seats available. Err on the side of excess,” reads an Aug. 16 email to U.S. officials involved in the exit from Afghanistan. “This guidance provides clear discretion and direction to fill seats and to provide special consideration for women and children when we have seats.”

Hawley, who says he obtained the email through a U.S. official who was outraged by the Biden administration’s failure to vet Afghan refugees flown into America, published the email Tuesday afternoon on Twitter. Hawley maintains that Afghan evacuees were not throughly screened with intensive interviews before they arrived in the United States.

“This email was shared [with] me by an American official present in Afghanistan during the evacuation who was shocked by administration’s failure to vet Afghans before they were evacuated,” Hawley wrote. “Email details orders from Joe Biden to fill up the planes—even without vetting.”

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