Our Thorough Afghan Evacuee Vetting

“We have PI’s [Private Investigators] who can run thorough background checks,” says Mike Edwards, founder of Project Exodus Relief, “and have already turned over some bad people to the FBI.”

Project Exodus Relief, founded in August 2021, is a non-profit and non-partisan organization. We are taking charge in evacuating individuals from Afghanistan and ensuring their safe resettlement. In order to guarantee these individuals aren’t criminals or dangerous, proper screening and vetting must take place. Here at Project Exodus Relief, we strive ourselves in confirming that our evacuees are exhaustively vetted.

Evacuee Vetting Receives Backlash

Recently, Republican Senators drafted a memo containing interviews with senior officials of various federal agencies. This memo outlined the issues the current administration is having with correctly vetting Afghan refugees. The memo, reported by the Washington Examiner, said most of the 82,000 people who were admitted to the U.S. from Kabul in August were not vetted. Senator Rob Portman stated on November 4th that at least 10 unvetted evacuees were detained in federal facilities. This was due to them being national security threats; however, they were still able to pass U.S. screening beforehand. One of these people, at 20 years of age, had sexual assault charges against a minor.

A source told the Examiner that the DHS accepted the identity given by Afghans without them having the necessary documents. U.S. officials constructed new records based on the unverified information Afghans gave them about themselves. These records were submitted to the Automated Biometric Identification System (or IDENT). IDENT is used to store and process biometric and biographical information for, “national security; law enforcement; immigration and border management; intelligence; background investigations for national security positions and certain positions of public trust; and associated testing, training, management reporting, planning and analysis, or other administrative uses,” as stated on the DHS website.

Project Exodus Relief Thoroughly Verifies Afghans

The Examiner’s second and third sources provided information on both international and domestic officials. Both officials were stated to believe that the evacuee screenings were done by the other. Furthermore, the memo points to one federal official at Naval Station Rota, Spain believing the vetting transpired once evacuees reached the U.S. Another official, at Fort Lee, Virginia, was under the impression that the vetting took place overseas before evacs reached America. 

Project Exodus Relief takes great care in vetting to assure their donors that this is not the case with us.

“The people we are bringing back have been vetted by the US military,” says Edwards, “most of them have had multiple polygraphs and once manifested they will be put through the DoS screening…”

Edwards also points out that Project Exodus Relief has the capability to directly push people to the FBI and the CIA. Most importantly, to remain hands on, we also have our very own system for vetting. As stated in a previous article on our blog, the Afghans Project Exodus Relief is saving have been vetted over the span of many years by the U.S. government. 

Our efforts focus on visa holders, American citizens, and the Afghanistan soldiers who fought beside the U.S. As reported by the Examiner, 75% of the Afghans evacuated by the WH administration were not even applicants for visas.

Many of the Afghans have assisted the United States in many ways for over a decade and saw themselves abandoned; however, the bonds created between them and many veterans held together. Many volunteers in Project Exodus Relief have made many sacrifices to make sure our friends come to safety.

Help Our Efforts In Afghanistan

Would you like to help save people from the Taliban’s reign of terror? Donate to support our rescue operations and help save an Afghan life. Your money will support immediate evacuation and keeping refugees fed, watered, and in warm clothes while they await a bird to fly them to safety.”