A Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General audit reported a 40% error rate in a sample of Afghan evacuee asylum files handled by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under Operation Allies Welcome. The audit findings and quotations below are drawn from the DHS OIG report.
What the watchdog found
Inspectors reviewed a random sample of 678 cases from 13,682 completed asylum decisions involving Afghan evacuees and found errors in 269 of the 678 files—“a 40 percent error rate,” according to the report. The most frequent gap involved missed alternate names: officials did not record 303 aliases across 169 files, meaning about one quarter of reviewed files omitted at least one known name variation.
The review also identified 23 incomplete security checks, 45 unresolved records with possible derogatory information, and 115 additional documentation problems. Two cases had errors tied to possible terrorism-related inadmissibility issues, the report said.
The OIG noted that case complexity can be high—one applicant had 124 aliases and another’s common name generated more than 1,500 potential database matches—but said this does not relieve USCIS of completing required vetting steps.
“The prevalence and type of errors suggest U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services may have missed opportunities to potentially link names provided by applicants to derogatory information,” the report stated, warning this could compromise the integrity of A-Files relied on for immigration administration and enforcement.
Why it matters
The report said these shortcomings could affect the government’s ability to identify relevant national security, criminal, or immigration information linked to an applicant. Incomplete files can also burden future officers in adjudications or enforcement actions, according to the audit.
Deadline not tied to more mistakes, OIG says
The audit examined whether a 2023 settlement in Ahmed v. DHS—which requires most Operation Allies Welcome asylum cases to be decided within 150 days—raised error rates. “We did not observe a statistically significant increase in error rate after the September 2023 DHS settlement agreement,” the report said.
USCIS response
According to the OIG, USCIS accepted all five recommendations, agreeing to improve how officers identify aliases, document security checks and social media reviews, set quality standards, and retain electronic records. USCIS said its broader vetting procedures “minimize the impact of these errors” and that the audit did not establish that any errors changed an asylum decision.
The OIG emphasized that the audit did not conclude USCIS improperly granted asylum in every flawed case; rather, it identified vulnerabilities in capturing aliases, completing required checks, resolving possible matches, and maintaining accurate files.
