Report Contents
Section 5275 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, Public Law 117-263, directed the Offices of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of State (State) to conduct a joint review “of efforts to support and process evacuees from Afghanistan and the Afghanistan special immigrant visa program” in coordination with the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (DoD) and other appropriate Inspectors General. Among other things, section 5275 directed our offices to provide information regarding the vetting, processing, and resettlement of evacuees, and required that the review include an assessment of the systems, staffing, policies, and programs used to: (1) screen and vet evacuees; (2) admit and process the evacuees at U.S. ports of entry; (3) temporarily house the evacuees prior to resettlement; and (4) account for the total number of individuals evacuated from Afghanistan in 2021 with the support of the U.S. government, including the number of individuals who were holders of Afghan special immigrant visas (SIV).
To address the requirements of Section 5275, State and DHS OIGs coordinated with other OIGs participating in the OIG Afghanistan Project Coordination Group. Participating OIGs are, DHS, State, DoD, Department of Justice, Intelligence Community, Social Security Administration, U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.