Cotton Urges DHS To Review Biden-Era Visas After Indictment of Alleged Hamas Terrorist Living in Louisiana

Mahmoud Amin Ya’Qub al-Muhtadi, who allegedly participated in the Oct. 7 attack, was indicted for being in the United States on a fraudulent visa

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) on Wednesday instructed DHS to conduct an immediate security review of all visas granted by the Biden administration following last week’s indictment of an alleged Hamas terrorist living in Louisiana on a fraudulent visa, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Mahmoud Amin Ya’Qub al-Muhtadi, a 33-year-old Gazan man, is being held in a Louisiana jail after federal prosecutors charged him last week with participating in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terror spree before moving to America with a fraudulent visa. Cotton disclosed in his letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem that there could potentially be thousands more terror-tied individuals living in the United States as a result of the Biden administration’s failure to properly vet immigrants from the Middle East.

“Since October 7, 2023, thousands of visa applications from Palestinians have been processed through Egypt, often without adequate review of digital footprints or terrorist watchlist cross-checks,” Cotton wrote in his letter. “I urge DHS to conduct an audit of all visas issued through high-risk countries since 2021, prioritizing potential affiliations with Hamas or other designated terrorist groups.”

Al-Muhtadi is one of the thousands of Palestinians Cotton cites who initially applied for a visa through the U.S. embassy in Cairo, “falsely denying his paramilitary training and terrorist affiliations.” He entered the United States less than a year after the Oct. 7 attacks along with a wave of others who received expedited processing under the Biden administration.

A federal indictment unsealed last week alleged al-Muhtadi was in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, “the location of a horrifying massacre by Hamas and its supporters,” based on geolocational data gathered from his cell phone. Al-Muhtadi’s social media accounts were also littered with evidence of his Hamas membership, including pictures showing him dressed in military fatigues training with Russian-made weapons.

“Despite blatant evidence of these activities on his social media, the Biden administration approved his application, granting him legal permanent resident status and entry into the United States,” Cotton wrote. “The vetting process for Al-Muhtadi’s application overlooked easily accessible evidence of his terrorist ties.”

While the State Department typically checks an applicant’s social media accounts before granting a visa, al-Muhtadi’s terrorist ties only came to light through intelligence Israel provided the Trump administration with earlier this year.

After arriving at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in September 2024, al-Muhtadi lived for a time in Tulsa, Okla., before relocating with his family to Lafayette, La. His ability to freely move throughout the United States highlights “the extreme danger posed by the previous administration’s policies,” according to Cotton.

The Senate Republican Conference chair is pressing DHS to initiate a full-scale audit of every visa issued through “high-risk countries” since 2021, with a specific focus on “potential affiliations with Hamas or other designated terrorist groups.”

Cotton says DHS must also implement “enhanced social media monitoring for visa applicants from high-risk regions” and begin working with the FBI to establish a “mandatory real-time” watchlist that can track terror affiliates before they enter America. These steps, Cotton argued in the letter, will “ensure no terrorist slips through undetected.”