U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations agents have arrested Jaan Shah Safi, an Afghan national who entered the United States under Operation Allies Welcome, a program initiated by the Biden administration. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Safi provided support to ISIS-K and supplied weapons to his father, a militia commander in Afghanistan. The arrest took place in Waynesboro, Virginia.
Safi arrived in the U.S. on September 8, 2021, through Philadelphia as part of Operation Allies Welcome. He later applied for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), but his application was terminated after Secretary Kristi Noem ended TPS for Afghans. ICE arrested Safi on December 3, 2025.
“Today, our heroic ICE officers arrested Jaan Shah Safi, a terrorist who provided material support to ISIS-K. The Biden administration brought this terrorist into the U.S. under the disastrous Operation Allies Welcome program. This terrorist was arrested miles from our nation’s capital where our brave National Guard heroes, Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe, were shot just days ago by another unvetted Afghan terrorist brought into our country,” said Secretary Kristi Noem. “The Biden administration created one of the worst national security crises in American history. Biden let into our country nearly 190,000 unvetted Afghan aliens — only determining who they were and their intentions when they were already on American soil. President Trump has been working every day since January 20 to clean up this unmitigated national security crisis.”
DHS stated that almost 190,000 Afghan nationals entered the United States under Operation Allies Welcome based on referrals that lacked thorough vetting procedures. In response to these concerns about national security risks associated with refugee resettlement from Afghanistan, the Trump administration halted such resettlement efforts and suspended entry of Afghan nationals starting January 20.
This is reportedly the third arrest within a week involving an Afghan national connected to terrorism who entered through Operation Allies Welcome.
On November 26, Rahmanullah Lakanwal carried out an attack against two National Guard members near the White House after being released into the country via Operation Allies Welcome.
One day earlier, Mohammad Dawood Alokozay was arrested by local authorities and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Fort Worth, Texas for making bomb threats after posting a video online indicating plans to build a bomb targeting an area in Fort Worth.
