The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project is requesting any documents sent or received by Nejwa Ali, a former spokeswoman for the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s now-defunct U.S. delegation, in her official capacity at the Department of Homeland Security. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)
DHS put Ali on leave Thursday, after The Daily Wire reported on her history with the PLO, which the U.S. has designated a terrorist group, and her social media post reading “F— Israel.” Ali serves as an adjudication officer at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services department.
The Oversight Project filed a Freedom of Information Act request Wednesday demanding “all communications, including emails, text messages, and messaging app chats sent/received by Nejwa Ali” with specific search terms related to Israel and Palestine.
The terms include: Palestine, Israel, Jew, Semitic, Genocide, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, Gaza, kibbutz, hospital, Hamas, decolonization, BLM [for Black Lives Matter], “From the river to the sea,” Zion, BDS [for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement which seeks to deprive funds from Israel], and apartheid.
“Our asylum system is an international embarrassment and a key driver of the mass importation into the United States of individuals who do not belong here,” Heritage Oversight Project Director Mike Howell told The Daily Signal Thursday. “It’s not a surprise that is the case when you have a pro-Hamas individual in a decision-making capacity.”
“Who knows who she let through the cracks?” asked Howell, also an investigative columnist at The Daily Signal.
“We expect USCIS to conduct a full and thorough investigation into their own hiring practices and to institute major policy changes to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Roman Jankowski, senior investigative counsel at the Oversight Project and investigative columnist at The Daily Signal, told The Daily Signal.
The Daily Wire‘s Luke Rosiak reported on Ali’s history Wednesday. A screenshot of her LinkedIn profile, which has since been altered to hide the history, showed that she worked as a public affairs officer for the Palestinian Delegation to the U.S. in 2016 and 2017. The delegation served as the “PLO office in D.C.,” until then-President Donald Trump expelled the organization from the country.
The Department of Homeland Security hired her in July 2019, according to her LinkedIn profile, as an “asylum officer.” The role includes vetting immigrants before they enter the U.S.
Ali previously posted as “Falastine Mi Amor” on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, The Daily Wire reported. After the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack that killed at least 1,400 Israelis—including civilians and babies—she posted, “F— Israel, the government, and its military. Are you ready for your downfall?”
DHS did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication time.
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