Third Afghan national from Biden-era program arrested in a week by ICE agents in Virginia: DHS

04 Dec 2025 By foxnews

FIRST ON FOX: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested Afghan national Jaan Shah Safi, an alleged ISIS-K supporter brought into the country under former President Joe Biden's Operation Allies Welcome, in Waynesboro, Virginia.

Safi was arrested as President Donald Trump and his administration confront a surge of terror cases tied to Afghan arrivals that occurred under the Biden administration.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Safi arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 8 2025, in Philadelphia.

He applied for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), though his application was terminated when DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ended TPS for Afghans.

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ICE agents arrested Safi Wednesday.

"Today, our heroic ICE officers arrested Jaan Shah Safi, a terrorist who provided material support to ISIS-K," Noem said in a news release. "The Biden administration brought this terrorist into the U.S. under the disastrous Operation Allies Welcome program. This terrorist was arrested miles from our nation's capital, where our brave National Guard heroes, Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe, were shot just days ago by another unvetted Afghan terrorist brought into our country.

"The Biden administration created one of the worst national security crises in American history. Biden let into our country nearly 190,000 unvetted Afghan aliens, only determining who they were and their intentions when they were already on American soil," she continued. "President Trump has been working every day since Jan. 20 to clean up this unmitigated national security crisis."

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The DHS accused the Biden administration of relying on unvetted referrals to admit nearly 190,000 Afghan nationals into the U.S.

The Trump administration put a stop to Afghan refugee resettlement after Trump returned to the Oval Office in January because it saw the program as a massive threat to national security.

Safi's arrest marks the third of an Afghan national who was released into the country under Biden in less than a week, according to DHS.

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On Nov. 26, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who was also released into the U.S. under Operation Allies Welcome, allegedly committed a terror and ambush-style attack on two National Guard members, killing one, just blocks from the White House.

On Nov. 25, just a day before the attack, Mohammad Dawood Alokozay was arrested by local authorities and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force after allegedly making bomb threats in Fort Worth, Texas.

Alokozay allegedly posted a video of himself on TikTok indicating he was building a bomb, DHS said, and his intended target was the Fort Worth area.

Alokozay, who was also released into the U.S. under Biden's Operation Allies Welcome, has been charged with making terroristic threats.