'Got a terrorist in a public school' Oklahoma officials probe ties of teen charged in terror plot

Lost in the headlines that an Afghan refugee admitted into the U.S. by the Biden-Harris administration was plotting an Election Day terror attack for ISIS was a troubling revelation: the adult defendant allegedly had a 17-year-old accomplice.

Oklahoma school officials are now scrambling to determine the activities, ties and motives of that student who attended classes virtually in the Moore school district just outside Oklahoma City.

"There's a co-conspirator here that was actually a student in a public school here in Oklahoma City that was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday. So you've got a terrorist in a public school," Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters told the "Just the News, No Noise" television show Thursday night.

Walters and other authorities declined to release the name of the student because he is a juvenile but he attended the Southmoore High School, taking classes online, according to a letter sent to parents in the school district and obtained by Just the News.

You can read that letter here.

In charging documents made public on Wednesday, federal prosecutors allege 27-year-old Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, an Afghan refugee who settled in Oklahoma City after he was paroled into the U.S. in September 2021 after the bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan, was seeking to attack an Election Day site.

Prosecutors alleged that Tawhedi and the 17-year-old co-conspirator sold their family's personal property on Facebook and then met Oct. 7 with an FBI asset in rural Oklahoma to try and purchase two AK-47 assault rifles, 10 magazines and 500 rounds of ammunition to further the terror plot.

Walters said his agency is working with federal and state authorities to determine what the student did during his time in Oklahoma and whether he had any concerning contacts with other students. 

"Our investigators are working very closely here at the State Department with the FBI, with Homeland Security and with DPS to track all of this down," Walters said on the Thursday edition of the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "What have we heard? We have seen schools that have preached radicalism against America."

While the student attended classes virtually, Walters said they are trying to figure out how often he was on campus and if other students have been radicalized. 

"We're trying to kind of get to the bottom of how often the kid was on campus," he said. "But again, it was part of the refugee program here, and was arrested by the FBI as a conspirator there."

Just the News reported that Tawhedi was granted special parole permission to enter the country during Operation Allies Refuge following the withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to a senior U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity. The unsealed criminal complaint confirms that Tawhedi was granted a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV). 

Sources told NBC News on Wednesday that Tawhedi was working as a security guard for the CIA in Afghanistan before the United States’ withdrawal from the country, but that his radicalization in support of ISIS likely occurred during his three-year stay in the United States.

The Biden-Harris administration has gotten backlash from specifically Republicans over its open border policies and allowing thousands of unvetted illegal migrants into the U.S. 

"This is why here in Oklahoma, we've cracked down on illegal immigration our schools," Walters said. "We've got to start tracking this. Who is in our schools? Where are they coming from? We have to have this information. Kamala Harris continues to say, 'Hey.. more immigrants.'"

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkass was pressed Thursday for more answers regarding the Afghan national and the alleged terrorist plot. 

"Mr. Secretary, how was this man brought into the U.S. and what screening did he undergo?" Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich asked Mayorkas during a briefing.

Mayorkas deflected the question and said he was in North Carolina focusing on the impacts of Hurricane Helene and communicating with those conducting rescue operations. 

"I'd be very pleased to answer your question in a different setting, but we are here to talk about emergencies and the support we can deliver to the people in need," he said. 

Walters said that something that needs to be looked into is how much taxpayer money is funding illegal migrants' education. 

"We have some initial estimates that over $400 million is spent in our state for illegal immigrants' education," Walters said. "So you look at it from both sides. We have a real literal terrorist in a public school here in Oklahoma. So you have the danger aspect, and then you go look at the size and scope to taxpayers. This is a problem that just continues to get worse under this regime."