Biden administration tries to plug border loophole that released migrant linked to terrorism into the U.S.

The Biden administration is giving immigration judges and asylum officers more access to classified information to help them determine which migrants might have ties to terrorism or pose a threat to public safety.

The change in policy follows an April 11 NBC News story that revealed an Afghan migrant on the terrorist watchlist was released on bond by an immigration judge in Texas after prosecutors from Immigration and Customs Enforcement withheld information about a possible connection to terrorism because the evidence was classified. Instead of arguing that the man was a national security risk, the prosecutors argued he was a flight risk, two sources familiar with the case said.

Mohammad Kharwin, 48, was caught crossing the border in 2023, but released because the Border Patrol lacked biometric information connecting him to the terror watchlist. He lived in the U.S. for more than a year before he was arrested by ICE in early 2024. When evidence of his potential ties to terror was not presented to the judge, he was freed again as he awaited an asylum hearing scheduled for 2025, U.S. officials said.

Within hours of the NBC News report, the man was arrested again in San Antonio.

The new policy, announced in a May 9 memo from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, overrides a 2004 directive that said classified information could only be used in immigration proceedings “as a last resort.”

Under the old policy, asylum officers making an initial determination about an immigrant’s eligibility to pursue an asylum claim and prosecutors presenting a case for deportation in immigration court had to get approval from the DHS secretary to share classified information.

The new memo instructs those employees to