WASHINGTON (AP) – As the U.S. rushes to evacuate Americans and allies from the chaos in Afghanistan, a growing number of Republicans question why the United States should welcome Afghan citizens who worked side by side with the Americans, further exacerbating divisions within the party in next year’s midterm elections.
Just over a week ago, while the impressive takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban was still in focus, former President Donald Trump issued a statement saying that “civilians and others who have been good with the our country … should be allowed to seek refuge ”. But in recent days, he has been warning of the alleged dangers posed by those desperately trying to flee his country before a month-end deadline.
“How many terrorists will Joe Biden bring to America?” he asked.
While Republicans receive strong criticism of Biden during his first major foreign policy crisis, some turn to the nativist and anti-immigrant rhetoric that Trump has perfected during his four-year term. It is causing consternation, among others in the party, that they think the U.S. should watch out for those who helped Americans for the past two decades.
“I think these false narratives that are a group of terrorists are really completely unfounded,” said Olivia Troye, a former White House national security adviser who currently serves as director of the Republican Accountability Project. “There is no basis for this in terms of global intelligence and security.”
Neil Newhouse, a veteran Republican pollster, said the rhetoric reflects “a general increase” in the country’s concern about the risk of terrorist threats following the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, not just in the short term by those who may not have been. properly controlled, but one or two years later.
“As a result, you just get the feeling that as a country we are less secure,” he said.
The Biden administration has stressed that all people authorized to come to the U.S. are being thoroughly examined by officials who work throughout the day. But refugees have become an emerging hotbed, with Trump and his supporters loudly demanding that Americans be prioritized for evacuation and warning of the potential dangers posed by Afghans who will be rescued in one of the largest civil air transport operations in the world.
The talk intensified on Thursday after a suicide bombing scattered the crowd at Kabul airport and killed 13 members of the US service and more than 150 Afghans.
“How many U.S. soldiers have to die to evacuate undocumented refugees?” tweeted Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont. “Take out the American citizens and bring our troops home.”
Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, toured the Doña Ana Range complex in Fort Bliss on Friday, where many refugees will be housed, and later tweeted in the United States: “They should rescue Afghans who have helped the northern army -American, but they should go to a neutral and safe third country. “
“They shouldn’t come to the U.S. with full security checks,” he said.
This was followed on Wednesday by a call from Kentucky Representative James Comer, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, for the administration to brief lawmakers on its efforts to guard Afghan refugees and prevent terrorists from entering the country. country.
“In the chaotic situation left by the Taliban’s capture of Afghanistan, we are especially concerned that terrorists and others who want to harm the United States may try to infiltrate the country disguised as those who provided aid to the Taliban. coalition forces in Afghanistan, ”he wrote in letters to the secretaries of state and national security.
Others, including Republican governors and members of Congress, have taken a different stance, welcoming refugees to their states and working furiously to help those trying to flee. At Capitol Hill, the effort to help Afghan friends and their constituent family is the rare company that consumes the legislative positions of members of both parties.
The United States has evacuated more than 100,000 people from Afghanistan since the airlift began on Aug. 14, including more than 5,100 U.S. citizens. While the administration’s explicit priority is to evacuate Americans, the figures reflect the demographics of those trying to flee.
U.S. officials believe about 500 U.S. citizens who want to leave Afghanistan remain in the country; it is believed that others want to stay. And many of the Afghans, including those who acted as American interpreters and fixers and with other support capabilities, are desperate to flee, fearing they will be prime targets for Taliban retribution once the U.S. leaves.
But that hasn’t stopped Republicans from accusing the Biden administration of not putting Americans first.
“We actually prioritize Afghan refugees more than our citizens,” said Republican JD Vance, who is running in the Senate in Ohio and has made repeated television appearances that exploit the administration’s approach.
On Fox Business Network, he stated, without evidence, that the United States “has no knowledge” of 90% of people being evacuated and said some have appeared in extensive terrorism databases.
“They put Americans in last place in every way, but Americans pay for everything,” echoed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Who has gained prominence with incendiary statements.
Trump and his former political adviser Stephen Miller, along with conservative commentators like Tucker Carlson, have taken things even further, using the same anti-immigrant language that was the hallmark of Trump’s 2015 speech announcing his candidacy for the Republican candidacy.
“You can be sure that the Taliban, who now have complete control, did not allow the best and brightest to board these evacuation flights,” Trump said. “Instead, we can only imagine how many thousands of terrorists have been relocated from Afghanistan to neighborhoods around the world.”
Carlson has warned about Afghans invading America.
The rhetoric underscores the transformation of a neoconservative-led party that advocated interventionist nation-building policies and invaded Afghanistan (followed by Iraq) nearly 20 years ago.
But not all Republicans are on board.
Senator Thom Tillis, RN.C., whose office has been working 24 hours a day to rescue the “countless” Afghans he says deserve to be evacuated, punished those in his party by invoking rhetoric. ” terrorist “.
“I would say they have to do their homework,” he said. “When you talk to the people we’ve talked to, when you look at their service log … when you recognize that they sleep in the same tents, they bring their arms together, they’ve been on firefighters live, how dare anyone wonder if Do they deserve to come to this country or to a safe third country? “
“We’re not talking about walking down the street and picking people up,” Tillis added. “We know these people. We know who their children are. We know what your service history was. And honestly, someone who takes that position, every time he does, insults a member of the service who considers these people to be brothers and sisters. “
Many Afghans who want to come to the United States do so under the Special Visa for Immigrants program designed specifically for people working with U.S. forces. Adam Bates, a political adviser to the International Refugee Assistance Project, said that because of their work, these authorities were extensively examined by U.S. authorities before appearing on the program, and are again extensively examined. “For a wide range of federal agencies” visas are granted.
Troye, who has spent significant time on land in Afghanistan over the years, said Americans came very close to the Afghans they served.
“These people became family for many of us,” he said. “It’s embarrassing to see some of these Republicans talk this way about people who really risked their lives to help us, who were really our allies on the ground.”
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Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.