DHS watchdog finds vetting errors in 40% of files for migrants

The DHS inspector general just reviewed a pile of migrant files and found mistakes in nearly half of them. Not typos. Missed aliases, incomplete documentation, and two cases where people might have been inadmissible on terrorism-related grounds. That’s the system working exactly as we feared.

The Biden administration’s response to the border crisis has been to insist that everyone is getting a fair, thorough vetting. This report blows that up. We’re not even talking about the ones who sneak in, but the ones who come through the official process. That’s a 40% failure rate on the front door. The other doors must be wide open.

We’ve heard the arguments about how the system is overwhelmed, that caseworkers are doing their best. Maybe so. But the problem is that the administration’s policies made the overwhelming inevitable. When you refuse to detain, refuse to return, and announce that the border is open, you are inviting the very chaos that produces these files. Two missed terrorism links is two too many. The watchdog should be applauded for telling the truth, but it shouldn’t take a report for the White House to fix a broken vetting process.

Republicans have been saying this for years. Secure the border, insist on exact documentation, and give the agents the tools to actually check. This report is the proof that we weren’t imagining it. The evidence is now in writing. Let’s see if the administration can do something other than deny.