Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., left, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., attend a Judiciary Committee hearing Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. Republicans blasted a resettlement program that aided Afghans who had helped U.S. forces and fled after the Taliban takeover in August 2021. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Senate Republicans this week lambasted a U.S. program to assist Afghans who served alongside troops, saying it did not properly vet tens of thousands of people who fled to the U.S. following the Taliban takeover as American forces withdrew.
The hearing, which lasted more than three hours, came in the wake of a shooting that has reignited debates about the quality of the vetting process and the value of the resettlement program as a whole.
In November, Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal shot two members of the National Guard, killing 20-year-old Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and wounding Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, according to authorities.
Lakanwal served in a CIA-backed Afghan army unit during the 20-year-long war and entered the U.S. under humanitarian parole. He is charged with a range of federal crimes including first degree murder.
After the Taliban toppled the government in Kabul in August 2021, Afghan asylum seekers entered the U.S. through three pathways: refugee status, humanitarian parole and special immigrant visas, or SIVs.
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday that the shooting served as clear evidence of the flaws of Operation Allies Welcome and its successor, Operation Enduring Welcome.
They zeroed in on the parole process, which they said was meant to be used on a case-by-case basis. Former President Joe Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, had allowed more than 70,000 Afghans into the country without proper vetting, they said.
“The Biden Harris administration took drastic shortcuts, and America is less safe as a result,” said committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
Advocates and veterans have long defended the program’s vetting procedures and argue that the shooting was a tragic aberration in an otherwise successful effort to assist the United States’ wartime partners.
More than 190,000 Afghans have come to the U.S. under the two operations since 2021, according to the State Department. Many of them had served as translators, drivers and interpreters or provided other assistance to U.S. forces.
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., pushed back Wednesday, saying Republicans were attempting to exploit the shooting for political gain.
“To suggest that Afghan refugees aren’t vetted thoroughly is a pure fabrication to fit a tragic act of violence into a false narrative by this administration,” Padilla said.
Since returning to office last year, President Donald Trump has issued a number of executive orders affecting Afghan migration, including suspending the entry of Afghan nationals and pausing visas.
Veterans groups and other advocates have framed the issue as a moral imperative. They argued that abandoning allies would not bode well for future U.S. military operations.
The national security stakes extend beyond individuals, said Andrew Sullivan, an Army veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan who heads the nonprofit group No One Left Behind.
“If we abandon America’s Afghan allies, our adversaries will have a propaganda weapon to use against us in future conflicts,” Sullivan said in a statement.
Advocates have also pointed to a Justice Department report published last year saying the FBI effectively screened tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees.
At Wednesday’s hearing, senators heard from officials who detailed how the departments vetted Afghans.
In one case, an analysis by the Homeland Security Department’s Office of Inspector General found that the agency lacked a well-defined process to track Afghan parolees and did not routinely take enforcement actions when an individual parole expired, said Craig Adelman, the deputy inspector general in the department audits office.
“Our findings have been consistent,” Adelman told senators. “DHS was not adequately prepared to manage the scale and complexity of the Afghan evacuee crisis while maintaining strong national security controls.”
Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran and president of the nonprofit group #AfghanEvac, urged committee members to repair broken systems and restore lawful entry processes for Afghans.
More than 212,000 Afghans eligible for evacuation remain in Afghanistan, and 60,000 others are waiting for relocation in 90 countries around the world, according to the group.
“Thousands of Americans are alive today because Afghan partners stood with us,” VanDiver said in written testimony. “Now, those same partners are asking whether America will stand with them.”
