U.S. Reps. Chip Roy and Josh Brecheen are seeking records from the U.S. Department of Justice and an investigation into whistleblower allegations involving Travis County District Attorney José Garza’s decision not to prosecute an Afghan national accused of felony solicitation of prostitution.
The lawmakers’ letter cites a September 14 whistleblower complaint from Major Joshua Mast concerning Afghan national Aminullah Amin. According to the lawmakers, Garza’s office declined to prosecute the solicitation charges on July 22, citing the “interest of justice.”
Amin is embroiled in a custody dispute with Mast and his wife over a seven-year-old girl.
“The complaint raises the question whether the charging decision may have been improperly influenced so that the accused in that case could continue his custody pursuit of [the] seven-year-old little girl in our nation’s highest court,” the congressmen wrote.
The custody dispute began after an Afghan baby was found in the rubble of a rural compound raided by U.S. Army Rangers.
The State Department helped place her with an Afghan couple identified as relatives, who raised her for 18 months while Joshua Mast and his wife obtained a Virginia adoption order without notifying them.
After helping the Afghan family evacuate to the United States in 2021, Mast took custody of the girl. Lower Virginia courts ruled in the Afghan couple’s favor, but the state’s highest court sided with the Masts, citing a six-month statutory deadline for challenging the adoption.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Afghan couple’s appeal earlier this month.
Roy (R–Austin) and Brecheen (R–OK) also request a review of evidence from two 2021 forensic extractions of phones used by Amin. The lawmakers say Mast’s complaint identifies potential investigative leads involving national security and immigration screening.
“The Complaint identifies leads involving alleged Taliban contacts, possible al-Qaeda connections, and eleven distinct SIM-card identifiers associated with one of the phones,” they wrote.
This letter follows a June committee inquiry into Garza’s immigration-related policies.
Roy, along with U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan (R–OH) and Tom McClintock (R–CA), wrote to Garza earlier this year “concerning his office’s immigration-related policies and their consequences for public safety and the rule of law.”
“Under your leadership, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office has routinely undermined the rule of law under the guise of safeguarding the public,” the congressmen wrote. “You previously committed to ‘[p]rotect immigrant communities’ by ‘creat[ing] a [district attorney’s] office that considers the impact of charges and convictions’ on foreign nationals and ‘ensures that the sentence imposed is not unduly harsh for any class of people.’”
Roy and Brecheen raised concerns that Garza is continuing a “soft-on-crime” approach that could also threaten national security.
“Shielding criminal aliens from immigration enforcement in Travis County or elsewhere undermines public safety and impedes enforcement of federal law,” Roy and Brecheen wrote.
“Above all, unresolved questions about potential terrorism connections involving a foreign national arrested for an apparent felony and pursuing custody of a child in American courts demand prompt examination.”
Garza has not responded to a request for comment regarding Roy and Brecheen’s accusations against him.
