Homeland Security official's killing leaves agency 'devastated' as vetting breakdown exposed
The killing of DHS official Lauren Bullis by a naturalized citizen exposes major immigration vetting failures, according to DHS and policy experts.
A Department of Homeland Security official was killed in Georgia by a naturalized U.S. citizen with a prior criminal record, a case that is raising new questions about the federal government’s vetting process after the agency recently acknowledged significant screening gaps.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed Wednesday that Lauren Bullis, 40, was "brutally shot and stabbed to death," identifying the suspect as 26-year-old Olaolukitan Adon Abel, who was naturalized in 2022 and has a record that includes convictions for sexual battery, assault and battery against a police officer.
The killing comes shortly after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services disclosed "significant national security and public safety risks" in U.S. vetting processes, describing past screening processes as "wholly inadequate" under former President Joe Biden.
Mullin said DHS is "devastated" by Bullis’ killing. The agency also said she "was a bright spot for so many of the DHS community."
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Bullis was walking her dog when she was attacked, according to DHS. She served in multiple roles at DHS’ Office of the Inspector General, including as an auditor and a team leader in the Office of Innovation.
The agency said Abel was also arrested in connection with the murder of an unidentified woman he reportedly shot outside a Checkers, as well as a homeless man he shot multiple times outside a Kroger in Brookhaven, Georgia.
Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and policy expert at the Center for Immigration Studies, said, "This is just the latest impact of the Biden administration's immigration policies."
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Arthur, who served under the Bush and Obama administrations, said the case raises concerns about whether existing safeguards were properly applied during the naturalization process.
"There were plainly steps that were missed when this person was naturalized," he said, adding that recent agency findings suggest broader vulnerabilities in the system.
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It is not yet clear from publicly available information how Abel’s prior convictions factored into his naturalization review or whether they should have disqualified him under existing standards.
USCIS announced the creation of a new vetting center in December that DHS said would "enhance screening and vetting of immigration applications, with a focus on identifying terrorists, criminal aliens, and other threats to public safety." The agency said the center would leverage advanced technologies and work closely with law enforcement and intelligence partners to uphold the integrity of the U.S. immigration system.
The month before, USCIS also restored the practice of conducting neighborhood investigations of potential new citizens to verify aliens’ eligibility for naturalization by reviewing their residency, moral character, loyalty to the U.S. Constitution, and commitment to the nation’s well-being.
Arthur lauded this decision, saying, "That's never been a priority, because of the numbers that we talk about, about 800,000 people naturalize every year."
"This is a huge number of people, and we have assumed in the past that a simple fingerprint check and NCIC run will identify individuals who pose a danger to the community before they can be naturalized. We now know that that's not true."
He cautioned that though "the numbers are big, and we want to encourage people who are green card holders to become citizens," the U.S. must continue to "invest resources in order to ensure that we don't confer citizenship on anybody who poses a danger to the United States going forward."
Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for Biden for comment.
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