Afghani Illegal Alien on Terror Watchlist was Released into the U.S.—Twice

Just days before the U.S. Senate buried the impeachment trial for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, startling new evidence came to light that Secretary Mayorkas has indeed “presided over a reckless abandonment of border security and immigration enforcement.” 

The latest example was a report that an Afghani illegal alien who should have been detained by DHS was released from custody, not once, but twice. Mohammad Kharwin was first encountered by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) when he crossed the border illegally at San Ysidro, CA, on March 10, 2023. The Border Patrol referred him to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which released him on a special Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program that required him to wear a mobile tracking device. It’s not clear how intensive the program was, but it certainly wasn’t extensive. Inexplicably, 16 days later he was removed from that program and was allowed to roam freely about the country and was not required to check in with ICE or report his whereabouts. 

Kharwin remained at large until February 2024. It was then that the FBI became aware of his presence and informed ICE that Kharwin had ties to Hezb-e- Islami (HIG). According to the Director of National Intelligence, the Afghani-based HIG is a “virulently anti-Western insurgent group” that was responsible for killing nine America soldiers and civilians between 2013 and 2015. Better late than never, ICE arrested him in San Antonio, Texas, and held him in detention until his deportation hearing scheduled for March 28. 

However, when Kharwin appeared in immigration court in late March, ICE lawyers neglected to inform the judge of his ties to HIG, and that he was a threat to national security. Instead they merely portrayed him as a flight risk when they requested that he be held without bail. The judge ordered that Kharwin be released on bail. Two days later, Kharwin managed to post the $12,000 bail and he, once again, was released until his next court date, scheduled for 2025. Once the media reported that DHS had managed to release the same suspected terrorist twice, Kharwin was finally taken back into custody while he awaits his 2025 hearing. 

This case is illustrative of Mayorkas’ tenure as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and why his continued presence in that job makes him a threat to national security. Under his watch, DHS has neglected or subverted countless laws, leading directly to record levels of illegal immigration, including record numbers of people who are known to be on the terror watchlist, and an unknown number who may be among the 1.8 million ‘gotaways,’ who eluded apprehension. 

The fact that an Afghani, who crossed illegally, was not immediately detained at the time he entered unlawfully is alarming, considering that there were beds available, but intentionally not used. In FY 2023, there were 34,000 detention beds provided by Congress per day. In the month that Kharwin was briefly placed on ISAP, the detention facilities’ occupancy rate hovered around 27,000, meaning that there were around 7,000 available beds to detain and remove a questionable alien from a terror hotbed. 

The refusal of the Senate to hold a trial on the Articles of Impeachment passed by the House makes that body complicit in Mayorkas’ endangerment of homeland security. As the first article charged, “Secretary Mayorkas admitted during testimony before [a Senate committee] that U.S. Customs and Border Protection was releasing inadmissible aliens, whom the Department of Homeland Security is required to detain, into the interior of the United States.” The case of Mohammad Kharwin makes it clear that that practice includes suspected terrorists.