convicted rapist who was deported from the united states in 2017 is arrested at washington dulles international airport after catching a ethiopian airlines flight from kabul
A convicted rapist who was deported from the US in 2017 has been arrested at Washington's Dulles International Airport after catching Ethiopian Airlines evacuation flight out of Kabul.
Ghader Heydari, 47, boarded a flight for evacuees but was flagged by border officials upon arrival into Washington.
He was being held at the Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green, Virginia, according to DailyWire, after border officials spotted his criminal and immigration history.
A convicted rapist, who was deported from the US in 2017, is arrested at Washington's Dulles International Airport after catching an evacuation flight out of Kabul (file image)
It's not clear how he got on the flight because it was 'unlikely' that he had a Special Immigrant Visa or that he was a refugee.
Evacuees are supposed to be undergoing security screening at transit hubs outside the U.S. before being allowed to enter the country, and Heydari may have slipped through.
A senior administration also said that his rape conviction was not enough to keep him off the flight due to the extreme nature of the humanitarian crisis.
According to The Washington Times, Heydari came to the US as a refugee and was granted a green card in 2000.
A man whose name and age match Heydari‘s pleaded guilty to rape in Ada County, Idaho, in 2010, and he served more than five years in prison.
He was released in December 2015, according to state records, and was deported from the country in 2017.
When Heydari arrived in the US on the evacuation flight, officials tried to persuade him to cancel his request to enter but he appears to have refused.
The U.S. evacuated 13,400 people from Kabul last Thursday, taking the evacuees to bases in Qatar, Bahrain or Germany before they return to the states.
They flew 5,100 people out of Kabul on US military planes. Another 8,300 were saved by coalition flights. The total - 13,400 - was drastically less than the 19,000 rescued the previous day.
Ghader Heydari, 47, boarded a flight for evacuees but was flagged by border officials upon arrival into Washington (file image)
Those who are cleared to travel are then flown to Dulles airport, located in the greater Washington DC area, processed and transported to military bases in New Jersey, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin, AXIOS reported.
Additional bases are expected to be added and the tarmac at Dulles is filling up with flights transporting refugees.
As of Thursday morning, people on seven different aircrafts waited at the airport as more flights were expected to come in, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Evacuees who boarded flights with minimal belongings are waiting for up to ten hours to be processed by government officials before they can be transferred from the airport to temporary housing.
A Department of Homeland Security told the newspaper that processing delays are stemming from a backup in the vetting of Afghans.
'Over the last several days, we have worked with urgency and with care to enhance screening and vetting operations such that we make these operations more efficient without compromising national security,' the official said.
Once they are cleared from the planes, evacuees are either reunited with their loved ones or boarding busses that while take them to military bases.