U.S. DEBATE over resettling Afghans just beginning.
WASHINGTON — The political debate over resettling Afghan refugees in the U.S. is just beginning.
The White House is braced for intensifying scrutiny over permanently resettling tens of thousands of Afghan allies across the country that up until now had been set aside by the hurried mass evacuation.
Officials with the White House National Security Council have quietly been laying the groundwork with state and local governments for several weeks by presenting their Special Immigrant Visa program as a humanitarian imperative and a moral obligation to those who helped in the U.S. war effort.
“We are talking about our Afghan allies who bravely worked with U.S. service members as translators and in other roles, who stood with us side by side, and who risked their lives to help us,” a White House official said. “This is about keeping a promise.”
But signs have emerged of a political divide that is expected to grow now that the operation in Afghanistan has come to an end. The debate has also underscored a rift within a Republican Party that has otherwise been united in its criticism of Biden’s handling of Afghanistan.
While some GOP leaders and officials have embraced helping refugees fleeing the country, other Republicans in Congress and conservatives have raised concerns about whether they will pose security risks, putting pressure on local leaders in their party.
Even if some mayors and governors end up opposing the resettlement of refugees in their communities, they have little practical say in the matter because Afghan arrivals have freedom of movement to choose where to settle once granted legal status in the United States.
The fate of some refugees remains uncertain. The White House has signaled to immigration groups that an unspecified number coming into the country will be on parole under the Immigration and Nationality Act, putting them in legal limbo as they are processed.
Biden has designated the Department of Homeland Security as the lead agency to oversee the vetting, health screening and resettlement process.
A White House official described the screening process as extensive, involving the review of biometric data, and vetting from multiple government and law enforcement agencies, including Homeland Security, the Defense Department, the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center and the intelligence community.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last week that the administration has been working closely with governors and local leaders to emphasize the security protocols that undergird the resettlement program.
“There are some people in this country, even some in Congress, who may not want to have people from another country come as refugees to the United States. That’s a reality,” she said. “We can’t stop or prevent that on our own.
But we are going to continue to communicate our intensive vetting process, and we’ve been working hard to do that behind the scenes.”
Officials at organizations that help refugees said the White House should take further action, including determining how the government can provide additional aid for refugees under parole status or eventually offering them a legal avenue to stay in the country long term.
Others are urging the administration to grant Afghans in the country temporary protected status, a legal designation for foreign nationals from countries afflicted by war or natural disasters that lets them live in the United States.
“They’ve started to turn the wheel here and see it as a way to build consensus with the public on support for Afghan refugees,” said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum. “But I think they’ve got to act really quickly and decisively, and I think President Biden has to be seen as the leader of this effort.”
Noorani suggested Biden travel to a town already receiving refugees, highlighting the administration’s strong support for the process.
“When it comes to refugees, my fear is the president will back down after one punch in the jaw from Tucker Carlson,” Noorani said, referring to the conservative Fox News show host. “And Tucker Carlson does not represent the majority of Americans.”
Even though they represent a minority of their own party, Republicans who have questioned bringing Afghan refugees to the United States have grown louder in recent days.
Former President Donald Trump has said terrorists could be among the refugee population, though all Afghan refugees, regardless of their legal status, are being vetted overseas before their arrival, in countries that the White House is calling “lily pads.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, after touring a camp at Fort Bliss where the Biden administration is housing Afghan refugees, raised concerns about whether officials were properly vetting them. He said a failure to do so would be “an invitation to terrorist attacks” and that the United States should instead be sending the refugees to “a safe, neutral third country.”
Signs have emerged of a political divide that is expected to grow now that the operation in Afghanistan has come to an end.