Previously Deported Convicted Rapist Sneaks Back into U.S on Afghan Evacuation Flight
47-year-old flagged by border officials
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A convicted rapist who was previously reported from the United States boarded an Afghan evacuation flight to sneak back into America, according to reports.
As Americans struggle to escape Kabul with hundreds being left behind, Ghader Heydari managed to catch an Ethiopian Airlines charter flight for evacuees.
But the 47-year-old convicted rapist was flagged by border officials on arrival at Washington Dulles International Airport.
Heydari's criminal and immigration history was spotted by officials, and his entry was derailed.
Heydari is now being held at the Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green, Virginia.
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“They are bringing far too many people in far too quickly to be able to effectively vet them,” said Ken Cuccinelli, a deputy secretary at Homeland Security in the Trump administration.
Heydari’s entry was not clear, but it is not likely e holds a Special Immigrant Visa.
Given his immigration history, it is also unlikely he is a refugee.
According to a senior administration official, security checks were supposed to be completed outside the U.S.
“That happens at the transit hubs, and it happens before individuals are allowed into the United States,” the official said.
“That’s, in particular, with the biometric and biographic security screenings that our colleagues in the intelligence community and law enforcement and other counterterrorism components of our government are doing."
“So that is where we are doing that work to ensure that however it is — whatever is happening on the ground at HKIA, before individuals are allowed into the United States, they receive that security vetting,” the official said.
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Heydari was granted a green card in 2000 after coming to the U.S as a refugee.
A man matching Heydari‘s name and age pleaded guilty to rape in Ada County, Idaho, in 2010.
He served over five years in state prison before being released on supervision in December 2015, state records reveal.
He was later deported by an immigration judge in 2016 and was removed in 2017.
Earlier this month, Neon Nettle a top U.S. official has warned over 100 of the evacuees rescued from Afghanistan are suspected terrorists who are on intelligence agency watch lists.
The United States government official issued the warning on Tuesday as it was revealed that one passenger flown out to Qatar has potential ties to ISIS.
The Afghans in the evacuations are potential candidates for Special Immigration Visas (SIV).
However, several were flagged as possible matches to intel agency terror watch lists by the Defense Department's Automated Biometric Identification System, an official with the U.S. government told Defense One.
