INTERNACIONAL
Afghan withdrawal refugees had ‘free rein’ on US bases in 2021, sources said, leaving in Ubers untracked
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The tragic Wednesday shooting of two West Virginia National Guardsmen in Washington, and President Donald Trump’s call to reexamine green card holders from «countries of concern» including Afghanistan, was predated by a warning from Fox News host Laura Ingraham about the Biden administration’s announcement amid the withdrawal that they were vetting evacuees on the «back end.»
The identification of a suspect has raised concerns again about the chaotic 2021 Kabul evacuation and previous reports of misconduct by evacuees on U.S. military bases.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, originally of Afghanistan and once part of a CIA-linked team fighting the Taliban, was identified as the main suspect in the shooting, which has since claimed the life of West Virginia National Guard Spc. Sarah Beckstrom of Nicholas County, West Virginia.
On Friday, «Ingraham Angle» host Laura Ingraham told Fox News Digital she and other conservatives have been sounding the alarm on failures of Biden-era vetting following the withdrawal ever since the Fox News host exclusively broke the story in September 2021 that members of Congress brought concerns over chaos at Army bases holding refugees directly to the State Department.
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«Soon after the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal, it was obvious that their intent was to bring as many Afghans into the U.S. as possible,» Ingraham wrote in an email Friday.
«Conservatives, including myself, raised serious concerns about the cost, the difficulty of assimilation and potential threats posed to no avail,» she said. «The Biden team didn’t care.
«We kept hearing, ‘But we promised,’ — Americans didn’t promise anything — and they shouldn’t be forced to keep paying for previous presidents’ horrendous mistakes.»
In September 2021, Ingraham reported exclusively that a top Republican demanded answers from then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the reports out of Fort Pickett in Blackstone, Virginia, depicting chaos and unvetted, unaccounted for evacuees.
As Ingraham pointed out, Blinken had said the State Department tried to «get as many people out as fast as we can, while we had the airport functioning. We focused on doing just that, and we’re doing accountings on the back end as people arrive in the United States.»
«That’s your Secretary of State admitting that he didn’t care about vetting these folks before we brought them to U.S. Soil,» Ingraham said at the time.
«And if you thought they would be securely held on US military bases, well, think again.»
Then-Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee exclusively provided Ingraham with a letter he wrote demanding answers from Blinken.
«I’ve recently been made aware from someone at Fort Pickett, Virginia, that Afghan evacuees basically have free rein of the complex and have even been allowed to leave, despite not having completed the vetting process,» Green wrote.
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«My sources made shocking allegations, including multiple incidents of sexual assault and several evacuees have been picked up by Uber drivers without any permission from authorities or being cleared to leave.»
Green called upon his own combat service in Afghanistan as an Army special operations flight surgeon to request confirmation or denial of the allegations made by the source, telling Blinken the reports pose an obvious national security risk.
At the time, Ingraham contrasted Green’s letter with Blinken’s public statements. During a news conference at the time, Blinken said that in the administration’s effort to get «as many people out (of Afghanistan) as fast as we can, while we had the (Hamid Karzai) Airport functioning, we focused on doing just that.
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Evacuees pack a Boeing jet from Afghanistan in 2021. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
«We’re doing accountings on the back end as people arrive in the United States,» Blinken told reporters at the time.
«If you thought they would be securely held on U.S. military bases, think again,» Ingraham said of Green’s revelation.
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Ingraham added Friday in comments to Fox News Digital that Afghan evacuees from Biden’s withdrawal not only come from a culture hostile to Western values, but they are often «all too dependent on the U.S. taxpayers to support them and their families.»
«This must end — (it’s) yet another calamitous Biden mistake President Trump is forced to address,» she said.
In his discussion with Ingraham after the withdrawal, Green, a member of and later chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee who left public life earlier in 2025, said he was hearing similar reports from bases beyond Fort Pickett, Virginia.
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«DOD is getting its directions on how to handle these situations by the State Department,» Green claimed. «And the State Department is failing to give them adequate information. They’re letting them leave. They can catch an Uber and actually leave the base. They don’t know exactly how many are even there.
«So, they can’t account for someone if they don’t return.»
Green said officials warned evacuees that if they leave the base their visa processing would stop but that such a warning appeared to have little effect on those who may have left.
JD VANCE CLASHES WITH CBS ANCHOR OVER UNVETTED REFUGEES: ‘I DON’T WANT THAT PERSON IN MY COUNTRY’
«Then you get the shocking allegations of harassment and sexual assault, and it’s just horrific,» he said.
At the time, Ingraham reported many of the evacuees on the planes out of Kabul came with no personal documentation at all, and she questioned how any «vetting» could be done of people who couldn’t begin to prove their own identity.
When contacted by Fox News at the time, the Biden State Department said, as a general rule, it did not comment on communications with Congress.
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Alejandro Mayorkas, Homeland Security Secretary at the time, told CBS News that the administration was dealing with «very few» evacuees who had given «any cause for concern.»
CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell followed up by pressing the secretary whether he could guarantee none of «thousands» of prisoners released by the Taliban would be coming to America.
«I can guarantee you that we are doing everything possible to make sure that they don’t,» Mayorkas said.
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By one year after the Afghanistan withdrawal, lawmakers were still focusing on fallout from the apparent chaos.
Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., said on Fox News in September 2022 he had heard similar reports out of Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, in his home state as Green had out of Virginia.
«Should it be any surprise to the American people that they were misled? This is no different than the Southern border when Secretary Mayorkas came before the (House) Judiciary Committee and lied to us and said the border is secure. A year ago, President Biden said ‘inflation is transitory’. And now, a year later, we find out that they did not vet them,» Tiffany said.
HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE SAYS ‘NATIONAL SECURITY BLUNDERS’ OF PAST 4 YEARS HAVE EMBOLDENED TERRORISTS
Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Tiffany said he was at Fort McCoy in Tomah, Wisconsin, when the first 2,000 refugees arrived there.
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«None of them had gone through the SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) process,» he said. «I asked about it.
«People could walk right off from the base without any authorization from the commanding officer. We sounded the warning bell on that. And now, finally, the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security is talking about this and saying this is a threat to national security and to our local communities.»
afghanistan,terrorism,military,state department,national security,ingraham angle
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Government documents reveal the fall of drug kingpin «El Mencho» over the weekend was the culmination of an aggressive, more than yearlong strategy of «total elimination» pursued by the Trump administration against the ruthless Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG), which is present in almost all 50 U.S. states.
Ruben «Nemesio» Oseguera Cervantes, known as «El Mencho,» the leader of the CJNG, was killed Sunday in a Mexican military operation in Tapalpa, Mexico, authorities said. Though the operation was carried out by Mexican forces, the United States laid the groundwork, making El Mencho’s fall possible.
On President Donald Trump’s first day in office, he signed an executive order directing the State Department to designate several cartels and international criminal groups «foreign terrorist organizations» (FTOs), a designation unlocking military-grade surveillance and «material support» prosecutions. Though lesser known than MS-13 or Tren de Aragua, CJNG was one of the groups designated an FTO by the administration.
Shortly after Trump’s executive order, on Feb. 5, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a policy memorandum to all Department of Justice employees, announcing a «fundamental change in mindset and approach» to cartels and transnational criminal organizations to a policy of «total elimination.»
A mugshot of Ruben «Nemesio» Oseguera Cervantes, known as «El Mencho,» beside graffiti depicting the letters of the Jalisco New Generation cartel on an abandoned home in El Limoncito, Mexico. (Eduardo Verdugo/AP Images; Drug Enforcement Administration)
Rather than simply seeking to mitigate the harms of cartel activity, Bondi said the DOJ would be suspending red tape to «empower federal prosecutors throughout the country to work urgently with the Department of Homeland Security and other parts of the government toward the goal of eliminating these threats to U.S. sovereignty.»
The memo said the DOJ would be prioritizing cartel managers and leaders.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment, CJNG is one of the most ruthless cartels in Mexico and a key supplier of fentanyl to the U.S., making it «one of the most significant threats to the public health, public safety, and national security of the United States.»
The DEA said CJNG operates vast distribution networks within the U.S., with associates, facilitators and affiliates operating in «almost all 50 U.S. states.» The DEA also said CJNG has been increasing its involvement in non-drug crime, including extortion, taxing human smuggling and fraud schemes.
A 2019 DOJ statement to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs states that CJNG is «one of the most powerful and fastest growing cartels» and operates key drug distribution hubs in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Atlanta. The Department of National Intelligence estimates the group has approximately 15,000–20,000 members.
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A soldier stands guard by a charred vehicle after it was set on fire in Cointzio, Mexico, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, after the death of cartel leader «El Mencho.» (AP Photo/Armando Solis)
Recognizing the threat posed by CJNG, the administration announced major results just over one month after Trump’s inauguration. On Feb. 27, Bondi announced the U.S. had secured the extradition of 29 high-ranking cartel leaders from Mexico, including top-tier CJNG leaders, a key money broker and a family member of El Mencho. Among those extradited and charged was Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as «Tony Montana,» El Mencho’s brother, who was charged in the District of Columbia for his alleged leadership role in the cartel.
On March 7, El Mencho’s son and heir apparent, Ruben Oseguera-Gonzalez, known as «El Menchito,» was sentenced in Washington, D.C., to life in prison plus 30 years and ordered to forfeit $6 billion in drug proceeds. El Menchito had been extradited to the U.S. during the first Trump administration in 2020.
The next week, on March 15, the president again upped the ante against the cartels by designating fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, authorizing the use of advanced military assets for supply-side interdiction at the border. The move had a major impact on CJNG’s drug smuggling operations.
June was another high-impact month in the fight against CJNG. El Mencho’s brother-in-law, José González Valencia, «La Chepa,» was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. Another high-ranking leader, José González Valencia, co-founder of the CJNG’s financial wing «Los Cuinis,» was also sentenced to 30 years.
The same month, the Treasury Department used the FEND Off Fentanyl Act for the first time to cut off three major Mexican banks, CIBanco, Intercam and Vector, from the U.S. dollar system for allegedly laundering CJNG funds.
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The Drug Enforcement Administration in Atlanta seized more than 1,000 pounds of meth linked to the violent Jalisco New Generation cartel in September. (Fox News)
In August, the administration secured the extradition of another 26 high-ranking cartel leaders from Mexico, including Abigael González Valencia, another brother-in-law of El Mencho known as «El Cuini,» who was the head of a major money-laundering organization for the cartel.
Not letting up, the next month, the DEA and Department of Homeland Security launched a massive, nationwide weeklong operational surge targeting CJNG distribution networks. The effort led to 670 arrests and the seizure of $18 million in currency and $29 million in assets. The operation also resulted in the seizure of 92.4 kilograms of fentanyl powder and 1,157,672 counterfeit fentanyl pills.
Announcing the seizures, DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said the administration «is targeting the Jalisco New Generation cartel as what it is—a terrorist organization—at every level, from its leadership to its distribution networks and everyone in between.»
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says murders plunged to historic lows as Trump ramped up arrests, deportations and gang crackdowns, citing new crime data. (Alex Brandon/AP)
«Let this serve as a warning,» said Cole at the time. «DEA will not relent… This focused operation is only the beginning — we will carry this fight forward together until this threat is defeated.»
By the end of 2025, the DEA was reporting that it had seized a total of 47 million fentanyl pills, enough to represent more than 369 million lethal doses, from cartel smugglers, including CJNG.
At the start of 2026, the administration again increased its targeting of CJNG and other cartels. The Department of War established the Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel (JIATF-CC) under U.S. Northern Command as the «next step» in the whole-of-government approach to «identify, disrupt, and dismantle cartel operations posing a threat to the United States along the U.S.-Mexico border.»
On Feb. 19, just 72 hours before the Tapalpa raid, the Treasury sanctioned Kovay Gardens, a CJNG-controlled resort in Puerto Vallarta, cutting off a $300 million revenue stream flowing into the cartel’s coffers.
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Following the raid, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the U.S. provided intelligence support to the Mexican government to assist in the operation.
Leavitt added that Trump «has been very clear the United States will ensure narcoterrorists… are forced to face the wrath of justice they have long deserved.»
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mexican cartel violence,donald trump,homeland security,defense,justice department,location mexico,pam bondi
INTERNACIONAL
La hermana del dictador Kim Jong-un, Kim Yo-jong, fue ascendida en el congreso de Corea del Norte
La hermana de Kim Jong-un, Kim Yo-jong, obtuvo un ascenso como directora titular de departamento en el Partido de los Trabajadores de Corea del Norte, según confirmaron este martes los medios estatales.
De acuerdo con la Agencia Central de Noticias de Corea (KCNA), la decisión se tomó durante el congreso quinquenal del partido gobernante en Pyongyang, donde el Comité Central oficializó el nuevo cargo de la funcionaria.
Kim Yo-jong ocupaba hasta ahora el puesto de subdirectora de departamento y su promoción la coloca al frente de uno de los espacios de mayor influencia dentro de la estructura partidaria. El evento, que congregó a miles de miembros de la elite, marcó uno de los pocos momentos en que se permite observar el funcionamiento interno del régimen norcoreano.
El congreso, que se realiza cada cinco años, define las prioridades del Partido de los Trabajadores en áreas clave como la diplomacia y la planificación militar. La cumbre también sirve como escenario para que el líder norcoreano consolide su control sobre la estructura.
Nacida a fines de la década del ochenta, de acuerdo con datos del gobierno surcoreano, Kim Yo-jong es hija de Kim Jong-il y de Ko Yong-hui, quien fue bailarina y tercera pareja conocida del ex mandatario. Tanto ella como su hermano cursaron estudios en Suiza, antes del ascenso de Kim Jong-un tras el fallecimiento de su padre en 2011, y su avance en la jerarquía política se aceleró a partir de ese momento.
La KCNA indicó que se prevé que Kim Jong-un anuncie las próximas etapas del programa nuclear norcoreano en el transcurso del congreso, que continuará durante varios días.
El dictador norcoreano fue reelecto como secretario general del Partido de los Trabajadores de Corea del Norte durante este noveno congreso de la organización. La decisión, adoptada en la cuarta jornada del encuentro, recibió el respaldo unánime de los delegados y formalizó así su control sobre el poder político y militar del país.
El partido calificó el nombramiento como expresión de la “voluntad inquebrantable” de sus miembros y destacó la figura de Kim como el único dirigente capaz de encarnar la fortaleza del Estado.
“La disuasión bélica del país, con las fuerzas nucleares como eje central, ha mejorado radicalmente y nuestro Estado ha avanzado dinámicamente hacia la prosperidad, garantizando así el futuro del país y de su pueblo a pesar de los duros desafíos de la historia”.
El congreso, considerado el máximo órgano de decisión política del régimen, reúne a cerca de 7.000 participantes entre delegados y observadores. Su función es definir las grandes directrices del Estado, que abarcan desde los planes económicos y sociales hasta las prioridades militares.
“El nuevo plan quinquenal se convertirá en una etapa para estabilizar y consolidar nuestra economía y lograr su desarrollo cualitativo gradual”, señaló Kim en un discurso el lunes.
Según información difundida por el partido, la reunión incluyó la revisión de las normas internas de la organización, pero no se detallaron los cambios aprobados.
En la sesión de apertura, Kim Jong-un señaló ante los delegados: “Hoy, nuestro partido se enfrenta a difíciles y urgentes tareas históricas de impulsar la construcción económica y el nivel de vida del pueblo, y de transformar todos los ámbitos de la vida estatal y social lo antes posible”.
Las autoridades del partido adelantaron que el congreso servirá para presentar la siguiente fase del programa nuclear norcoreano y para avanzar en la sofisticación de la disuasión militar.
(Con información de AFP)
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