The State Department has dismissed a visa specialist who was caught on hidden camera saying he coaches potential illegal aliens on how to avoid deportation as well as condemning his Jewish co-workers as “garbage people.”
A senior State Department spokesperson said Friday that the analyst, whose job involves reviewing visa applications, no longer works for the department shortly after the undercover video was posted by guerrilla journalist James O’Keefe.
“The contractor is no longer employed by the U.S. State Department,” the spokesperson told The Washington Times in an email. “Upholding the rule of law and protecting the integrity of our immigration system is essential, which is why the Department will launch a new contractor screening and vetting process.”
The video showed a man identified as Arslan Akhtar, who didn’t know he was being filmed, saying he has given advice to Hispanic people on avoiding deportation, starting with “keep your mouth shut.”
“Sometimes, I do say it to cab drivers that are from, like, Hispanic descent. I’m like, ‘Don’t talk to the police,’” Mr. Akhtar said in the video. “I’m just saying, like, don’t admit the truth. That is the ultimate loophole. Always maintain your innocence.”
He continued: “Don’t give them more information. Don’t tell them what you did because you think being honest will help your case. It does not. Exact opposite. In fact, that’s all we’re looking for.”
Mr. Akhtar had no love for his Jewish colleagues, saying that the “State Department is filled with Jewish people, terrible Jewish people, too.
“Like, really garbage people. These people are, like, colonists. These people are promoting genocide. These are real awful folks. And you know what the problem is? It’s a cultural issue with these guys.”
He said that he’s worked with Jewish organizations and that “all of them are awful people that really don’t want change.”
As for Israelis, “I hate them to death,” he said, but he also wasn’t fond of Yemenis, calling them “the most conniving group of folks, next to Indians.”
Does he like anyone? Well, yes: “Mexican people are nice. They never try to lie for no reason, like Bangladeshi people do,” he said.
As for White people, they “enforce a structure where we’re at the bottom. I’m not going to allow that anymore,” said Mr. Akhtar, whose ethnicity wasn’t disclosed in the video.
“It’s a culture of hatred, ultimately, and it’s a culture of dominance,” he continued. “They feel like they have the right to dominate everybody. To claim Greenland, to claim Canada, to claim Israel, Palestine.”
In a post on X, the State Department said his dismissal was “just the beginning.”
“These radicals with anti-American views have been embedded in our executive branch for generations and we are systematically cleaning out contractors that have allowed this,” said the Friday post. “Let us be clear: If you have these views and you work in or with the State Department, we will find you.”
This is just the beginning. These radicals with anti-American views have been embedded in our executive branch for generations and we are systematically cleaning out contractors that have allowed this. Let us be clear: If you have these views and you work in or with the State… https://t.co/WtshvK9zC0
— Department of State (@StateDept) June 20, 2025
The conversations took place inside and outside a restaurant on what appeared to be a date with an unidentified female investigator.
“It begs the question, how does a man with such hatred for certain races have the power over visas and immigration?” asked Mr. O’Keefe.
Mr. Akhtar also took a dig at billionaire Elon Musk, former head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying “I would love for him to be dragged out of the building with his hair plugs” and be “lynched on the street.”
Mr. Akhtar has not commented publicly on the undercover sting conducted by the O’Keefe Media Group, the investigative outlet founded by Mr. O’Keefe after he was fired from Project Veritas in 2023. He and Project Veritas are involved in litigation.
