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Who is Jaan Shah Safi? Afghan national and ISIS-K supporter arrested by ICE days after DC shooting
Jaan Shah Safi, an Afghan national in Virginia, entered the US under the Operation Allies Welcome program and allegedly provided material support to ISIS-K.
US immigration authorities have arrested an Afghan national in Virginia who allegedly provided material support to ISIS-K. Jaan Shah Safi was detained in Waynesboro by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
This comes after a shooting in Washington, DC, killed West Virginia National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, and wounded West Virginia Air National Guard Andrew Wolfe. The shooting was carried out by Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who was shot by another Guard member and taken into custody.
Read More | Who is Rahmanullah Lakanwal? Afghan identified as DC shooting suspect after National Guard incident
Homeland Security shared the update on X, writing, “Today the heroes of @ICEgov arrested Jaan Shah Safi, an unvetted Afghan national who provided support to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-Khorasan (ISIS-K). He also provided weapons to his father who is a commander of a militia group in Afghanistan.”
“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,” the post added.
Who is Jaan Shah Safi?
Safi is an Afghan national who entered the United States under Biden’s ‘Operation Allies Welcome,’ DHS said, adding that he “provided support to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-Khorasan (ISIS-K).”
“Safi is an illegal alien terrorist who entered the U.S. on September 8, 2021, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome. He applied for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) but his application was terminated once Secretary Noem ended TPS for Afghans. On December 3, 2025, under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE arrested Safi,” DHS announced.
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“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.”
The DHS noted that this was the third arrest in less than a week of an “Afghan national terrorist released into the country by the Biden administration.
