Ted Cruz responds to poorly aged CNN fact-check of his 2021 claim Afghan refugees weren't properly vetted

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Ted Cruz responds to poorly aged CNN fact-check of his 2021 claim Afghan refugees weren't properly vetted

CNN called it ‘misleading’ to suggest Afghan refugees were not being vetted

Brian Flood Fox News

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December 4, 2025 4:58pm EST

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Trump admin launches review of Biden-era Afghan arrivals after DC National Guard ambush

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt addresses the D.C. National Guard ambush, broader concerns over Biden-era Afghan vetting and migration pauses from high-risk countries.

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FIRST ON FOX — Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, spoke out Thursday about a 2021 CNN fact-check that claimed it was "misleading" to suggest Afghan refugees weren't properly vetted.

Biden administration officials insisted their 2021 Operation Allies Welcome vetting was sound, but Cruz and other conservatives strongly disagreed. Cruz’s concerns appeared to come to fruition last week when a former Afghan evacuee allegedly shot two West Virginia National Guard members, killing one.

"As we’ve seen over and over, Democrats, journalists, and self-declared experts work together to push false narratives that promote their shared ideology. In 2021, they created false narratives to cover for the Biden administration’s catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, including the admission of an almost uncountable number of evacuees into the United States," Cruz told Fox News Digital.

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Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, spoke out on Thursday about a 2021 CNN fact-check that claimed it was "misleading" to suggest Afghan refugees weren't properly vetted. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

"At the time, I said they weren’t adequately vetting those evacuees and that they were facilitating child trafficking and inviting terrorism. Instead of addressing those concerns, Biden officials ran to CNN and other journalists to attack me," Cruz continued. "Americans have been and continue to be at risk because of those policies and the cover-up used to justify them."

In 2021, Cruz suggested the Biden administration had sent "an invitation to terrorist attacks here in the United States" by bringing unvetted Afghans into the country.

"I’m very concerned that the Biden administration is bringing tens of thousands of refugees into the United States without thoroughly vetting them," Cruz said at the time.

DC NATIONAL GUARD SHOOTING SUSPECT FORMALLY CHARGED

Afghan refugees arrive to the U.S. in 2021

Refugees from Afghanistan being escorted to a waiting bus after arriving and being processed at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia on Aug. 23, 2021. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images)

CNN published a "fact check" pushing back on statements from Cruz and other Republicans.

"Facts First: It’s misleading to suggest that Afghan refugees who are coming to the U.S. following the Taliban’s takeover are not being vetted. Intelligence, law enforcement, and counterterrorism professionals are conducting security screenings for all Afghans permitted to enter the US. And according to officials and experts, evacuated Afghans are being vetted sometimes more than once — both before leaving Afghanistan and in transit countries where they’re taken ahead of arriving in the US," CNN wrote.

In addition to the alleged terror attack, Afghan evacuees with rap sheets that include convictions for sexual battery and lewd acts with a minor and arrests for alleged child abuse and terror-group support were among the "worst of the worst" recently swept up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

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Biden admins Afghan vetting process under fire

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A senior DHS official said Biden's "trust without verification" approach to evacuee backgrounds helped drive the recent surge in attacks and plots.

"Under Secretary Noem, DHS has been going full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and criminal illegal aliens that came in through Biden’s fraudulent parole programs," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. "When Joe Biden let 190,000 Afghan nationals in, they didn’t do criminal background checks, vet social media, someone just vouched for them, and they took the words as truth."

"DHS has captured sexual predators, terror suspects, pedophiles and other violent ‘unvetted’ foreigners in their persistent daily work of executing President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement orders," the agency added in a statement.

CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment when asked about the 2021 fact-check.

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Fox News Digital’s Charlie Creitz contributed to this report.

Brian Flood is a media editor/reporter for FOX News Digital. Story tips can be sent to brian.flood@fox.com and on Twitter: @briansflood.

Ted Cruz responds to poorly aged CNN fact-check of his 2021 claim Afghan refugees weren't properly vetted