JD Vance uses Uzbek trucker-turned-jihadist to unload on Biden
The US vice president, JD Vance, lashed out at Joe Biden’s border policy by quoting «a charming example» of an Uzbek man wanted on terrorism charges who was allowed to work as an American truck driver.
Speaking at a MAGA event in Olathe, Kansas, JD Vance singled out Akhror Bozorov, who was detained after entering the country in 2023, released and later given permission to work.
«In 2022, back home in his native Uzbekistan, Akhror gets charged with literally distributing jihadist propaganda and trying to recruit his fellow Uzbeks to engage in radical terrorism,» Vance recalled.
«So what does he do? … He got a first-class ticket to the United States of America. Because, at that point, if you remember, the administration was quite literally putting an ‘Open’ sign on the southern border of the United States of America.
Vance went on by telling the audience that Bozorov was apprehended for illegally crossing into the US, but Joe Biden’s policy prompted border officials to release “this guy right back into our streets.»
He then contrasted that decision with Bozorov’s subsequent arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under Donald Trump.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Uzbek authorities issued an arrest warrant in 2022, accusing Bozorov of belonging to a terrorist organisation, spreading jihadist propaganda online and recruiting others.
Background story: US detains Uzbek citizen wanted for terrorist activities abroad
The immigration decisions
The US Border Patrol apprehended Bozorov after he crossed into the US illegally in February 2023. He was released and received work authorisation in January 2024.
He later obtained a Pennsylvania commercial driving licence. When ICE arrested him in Kansas on 9 November 2025, he was working as a truck driver.
Read more: US deports 18 Uzbek nationals as migration enforcement continues
Pennsylvanian authorities insisted they followed federal checks. State transport secretary Mike Carroll told a state Senate hearing that officials used the federal SAVE immigration-status database to establish eligibility.
«The Department of Homeland Security gives us the green light or the red light to go forward,» Carroll said. Even after Bozorov’s arrest, he added, the database still flagged him as eligible for a commercial licence.
