The FBI has confirmed it is investigating an alleged assault on a female U.S. military service member at a facility in New Mexico that \u2026<\/b>
\nThe FBI has confirmed it is investigating an alleged assault on a female U.S. military service member at a facility in New Mexico that houses Afghan refugees. In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, the agency said its El Paso office is investigating the incident after receiving a referral from officials at Fort Bliss, Texas. The alleged assault took place at the refugee camp on the New Mexico side of the Fort Bliss facility known as the Do\u00f1a Ana Complex, which is being used to house Afghan evacuees. A spokesperson for the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss told The Hill in a statement that a female service member reported being assaulted by \u201ca small group of male evacuees\u201d while at the Do\u00f1a Ana facility on Sunday. \u201cThe safety and well-being of our service members, as well as all of those on our installations, is paramount. We immediately provided appropriate care, counseling, and support to the service member,\u201d the spokesperson said, according to the report. Additional safety measures have also been implemented, including more lighting and additional health and safety patrols, according to the report. The Do\u00f1a Ana Complex was converted into a camp for refugees evacuated from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country. Earlier in September, Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-N.M.) led over forty of her congressional colleagues in penning a letter to President Joe Biden ( pdf) expressing \u201cgrave concern about the rushed and incomplete vetting of Afghan evacuees being brought to the United States.\u201d In a tweet reacting to Sunday\u2019s incident, Herrell offered her sympathies to the female service member. \u201cMy prayers are with the courageous soldier and her family. This is yet another tragic failure in the vetting process for Afghan nationals. The American people deserve answers,\u201d Herrell said in the tweet. In the earlier letter to Biden, Herrell called on him to provide details about the vetting process used to screen Afghan refugees coming into the United States. \u201cTo be abundantly clear the United States should honor its promises to help Afghan nationals and their families who have risked their lives to support U.S. and Coalition forces, applied for the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, and are now fleeing the Taliban,\u201d the letter states. \u201cNonetheless, there are substantial and concrete concerns that in the course of your calamitous withdrawal of troops and evacuation efforts in Afghanistan, some individuals may have made their way into the country who are terrorists or have terrorist intent, are convicted violent criminals, or are otherwise dangerous persons,\u201d the letter continued. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas told CBS News earlier in September that Afghan nationals were vetted before arriving in the United States. \u201cWe screen and vet individuals before they board a plane to the United States. An individual who does not satisfy our screening and vetting protocols is not admitted to the United States. And, if in fact, we learn information subsequently, we place those individuals in removal proceedings, so that they are set to leave the United States as swiftly as possible,\u201d Mayorkas said. Asked if he can guarantee that the Taliban and those on terror watch lists were not making their way into the United States, Mayorkas said, \u201cI can guarantee you that we are doing everything possible to make sure that they don\u2019t. And we have no evidence that they have.\u201d News of the FBI investigation into the alleged assault at the Do\u00f1a Ana Complex follows the recent arrests of two Afghan evacuees at Fort McCoy, a military base in Wisconsin. A federal grand jury in Wisconsin indicted the pair in unrelated cases. Bahrullah Noori,20, faces charges that include three counts of engaging in a sex act with a minor, with one count alleging the use of force. Mohammad Haroon Imaad,32, has been charged with assaulting his spouse by strangling and suffocating her.<\/p>\n