Lake, Crane Bash Biden-Harris Border Policy After Afghan Refugee Arrested for Terror Plot

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested an Afghan man Tuesday for planning a terror attack on Election Day, which Representative Eli Crane (R-AZ) and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake (R) commented on X (formerly Twitter), suggesting it was a consequence of the Biden-Harris Administration's open-border policies.

Politico described how the man, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, arrived in the United States in 2021 on a special immigrant visa after the botched Afghanistan withdrawal in August. Tawhedi and a juvenile co-conspirator spent weeks liquidating family assets, purchasing weapons, and buying one-way tickets back to Afghanistan for Tawhedi's wife and child.

After his arrest, Tawhedi told the FBI he and the unnamed accomplice intended to attack large gatherings of people on Election Day and die as "martyrs" on behalf of the Islamic State (ISIS).

Local news source KOCO gave further details on the operation to arrest Tawhedi, where a confidential source said he was interested in buying the family's computer to go toward a gun business. Tawhedi and the accomplice met with the source to purchase two AK-47s, ten magazines, and 500 rounds of ammunition before being arrested. A search of Tawhedi's phone showed he was in contact with an ISIS recruiter and had been viewing and downloading Islamic State propaganda.

In his post commenting on the arrest, Rep. Crane bashed the Biden-Harris Administration's decision to parole 76,000 Afghan refugees to live in the United States, saying, "After botching the Afghanistan withdrawal, Harris-Biden paroled 76,000 Afghans into the U.S. This is the same admin that proudly reversed effective border/immigration policies on Day 1. Did anyone seriously think they would sufficiently vet 76,000 Afghans?"

Similarly, Lake attacked her opponent, Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who had said in 2021 amidst the withdrawal to "Cut the bureaucratic b.s. Put people on planes, land them at bases, and deal with the paperwork later."

The Senate candidate seemed to imply Rep. Gallego's comments came back to bite him in her post, saying, "Another bad idea from Ruben Gallego. This one could've gotten a lot of people killed."