Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) on Wednesday called on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct an immediate audit of all visas granted to individuals from high-risk regions since 2021, citing the recent arrest of a Hamas-affiliated operative who entered the United States last year.
In a letter sent to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on October 22, 2025, Senator Cotton specifically requested the department prioritize a review for potential affiliations with Hamas or other designated terrorist groups.
The request comes after the arrest of Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi, a Gazan citizen and operative of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s (DFLP) military wing—a group allied with Hamas—who allegedly participated in the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Al-Muhtadi entered the U.S. in September 2024 under a fraudulent visa, having allegedly lied on his application filed through the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. Court documents allege that Al-Muhtadi armed himself and gathered a group to cross into Israel during the October 7 attack and that his phone was later traced to a cell tower near Kibbutz Kfar Aza, the site of a massacre.
Senator Cotton charged that the vetting process under the previous administration failed to detect “blatant evidence of these activities on his social media,” allowing Al-Muhtadi to be approved for legal permanent resident status despite his alleged terrorist ties.
“The recent arrest of Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi… highlighted the extreme danger posed by the previous administration’s policies,” Cotton wrote. He noted that 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.”
To prevent future security breaches, the Senator urged DHS to:
- Conduct an audit of all visas issued through high-risk countries since 2021.
- Implement enhanced social media monitoring for visa applicants from high-risk regions.
- Establish mandatory real-time FBI watchlist checks.
“The safety of Arkansans and all Americans depend on reversing the damage done by Biden’s open border policy,” Senator Cotton concluded in his letter to Secretary Noem.
Al-Muhtadi was arrested on charges including visa fraud and conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He is currently being held in Louisiana.
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