SHOCK: Trump administration finds Biden policies let in terrorists, including ISIS plotters

The Trump administration is set to conduct a review of the over 185,000 refugees imported by the Biden administration — especially those imported from terrorism hot spots such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, and Venezuela.

This initiative, which is aimed at keeping America safe, has liberals at various NGOs throwing fits.

'I don't want that person in my country.'

According to a Nov. 21 memo outlining the plan reviewed by Reuters, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will undertake a review and "re-interview of all refugees admitted from January 20, 2021, to February 20, 2025," having determined that the previous administration prioritized expediency, quantity, and admissions over quality interviews and proper vetting.

Foreign nationals found not to meet refugee criteria will lose their status, says the memo.

The memo, which was signed by USCIS Director Joe Edlow, also orders a pause on the processing of permanent residence applications for refugees who entered under former President Joe Biden.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Blaze News, "For four straight years, the Biden administration accelerated refugee admissions from terror- and gang-prone countries, prioritizing sheer numbers over rigorous vetting and strict adherence to legal requirements. This reckless approach undermined the integrity of our immigration system and jeopardized the safety and security of the American people."

"Corrective action is now being taken to ensure those who are present in the United States deserve to be here," added McLaughlin.

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Photo by ARMEND NIMANI/AFP via Getty Images

Upon retaking office, President Donald Trump paused the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, halting the potential admission of hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals, noting in the corresponding executive order that "the United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees."

This caused consternation among activists and the liberal media, who had evidently grown accustomed to having the floodgates open to the third world.

In fiscal year 2023, the Biden administration admitted 60,014 refugees from 75 countries. Foreign nationals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Afghanistan, and Burma made up two-thirds of the total admissions.

The Biden State Department brought in over 100,000 refugees in fiscal year 2024 and had projected to admit over 125,000 refugees as well as "531,500 other arrivals in FY 2025, the majority of whom are expected to arrive as Cuban and Haitian Entrants through lawful pathways."

Trump was one of many critics who raised concerns in recent years about whether the Biden administration had done a proper job vetting many of the refugees, particularly those from Afghanistan.

Clearly, some radicals made it over.

In January, for instance, Gul Nabi Rahmati, an Afghan refugee who settled in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, allegedly stabbed a caseworker helping refugees. Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard indicated that the motive might have had something to do with religion. Rahmati's attempted murder trial will commence in early 2026.

Rahmati was not the only bad egg former President Joe Biden brought into the U.S.

Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, a 27-year-old Afghan citizen living in Oklahoma City, was arrested after the Justice Department foiled his "plot to acquire semiautomatic weapons and commit a violent attack in the name of ISIS on U.S. soil on Election Day," former Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement in early October.

Tawhedi pleaded guilty to two terrorism offenses in June. His 19-year-old co-conspirator, another Afghan refugee, was sentenced last week to 15 years in federal prison for his role in the foiled terrorist plot.

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Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun Staff

"Zada was welcomed into the United States and provided with all the opportunities available to residents of our nation, yet he chose to embrace terrorism and plot an ISIS-inspired attack on Election Day," said John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security.

Vice President JD Vance said in a January interview with CBS News' Margaret Brennan, "Now that we know that we have vetting problems with a lot of these refugee programs, we absolutely cannot unleash thousands of unvetted people into our country."

When pressed on whether some refugees were actually being radicalized once in the U.S., Vance said, "I don't really care, Margaret. I don't want that person in my country, and I think most Americans agree with me."

'It would re-traumatize tens of thousands of vulnerable refugees.'

The news of the Trump administration's new initiative to ensure that decisions made and persons imported by the previous administration — individuals like Zada or Tawhedi — aren't endangering Americans today caused apoplexy among NGOs in the space.

Sharif Aly, president of the International Refugee Assistance Project, claimed that the refugees who entered the U.S. under the USRAP "are already the most highly vetted immigrants in the United States" and characterized the proposed review as "an insult to refugees."

"This order is one more in a long line of efforts to bully some of the most vulnerable members of our communities, by threatening their lawful status, rendering them vulnerable to the egregious conduct of immigration enforcement agencies, and putting them through an onerous and potentially re-traumatizing process," said Aly.

Aly, the former CEO of Islamic Relief USA, suggested further that "besides the enormous cruelty of this undertaking, it would also be a tremendous waste of government resources."

"This plan is shockingly ill-conceived," Naomi Steinberg, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society vice president of U.S. policy and advocacy, said in a statement.

"It would re-traumatize tens of thousands of vulnerable refugees who already went through years of security vetting prior to stepping on U.S. soil," continued Steinberg. "This is a new low in the administration's consistently cold-hearted treatment of people who are already building new lives and enriching the communities where they have made their homes."

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