A recent survey by Rasmussen Reports found that the majority of Americans oppose the resettlement of over 50,000 Afghan nationals in the United States.
Neil Munro of Breitbart News reported on the Biden administration’s apparent plan to expand the number of Afghan migrants being brought stateside. He noted that the number of migrants appear to be “above the initial predictions of 22,000 Afghans — plus family members — who worked alongside the U.S. soldiers who were supporting Afghanistan’s government.”
“Enormous numbers of [Afghan] people are trying to jam themselves into that [airlift] funnel right now,” observed Ken Cuccinelli, who was the deputy chief of homeland security during the Trump administration. Cuccinelli continued by noting that, “there are plenty of people in this country, of both parties, who would be more than happy to use this excuse to just grab another 50,000 or 100,000 immigrants through this unusual pipeline at this deadly moment.”
Individuals in the Biden coalition are largely in favor of resettlement, with 35% of liberals supporting efforts to resettle over 100,000 Afghans. An additional 20% of liberals support Biden resettling between 50,000 and 100,000 Afghans
The resettlement numbers being floated around point to “a mass importation of Afghans, most of whom do not actually qualify” for U.S. visas, argued Rob Law, the director of regulatory affairs and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies.
“It is absolutely reckless with a profound disregard for what the [immigration] laws actually are … [because] they are substituting their own moral judgment for the laws that have been passed by Congress and signed into law by former presidents,” remarked Law.
According to the Rasmussen poll, Republicans and independents only want small numbers of settlements. 68% of Republicans are in favor of resettlement, but only fewer than 50,000 Afghans should be brought to the US. Only 16% of Republicans want to bring in more than 50,000.
The figures for support of refugee resettlement become interesting when other races are brought into the mix:
The response from black Americans matched the views of GOP supporters: 39 percent of black respondents supported just 10,000 migrants, and only 21 percent supported the resettlement of more than 50,000 Afghans. The matching numbers for Republican respondents were 39 percent and 16 percent.
Additionally, 51% of independents want to bring in fewer than 50,000 Afghans. On the other hand, 22% favor bringing in more than 50,000.
However, many establishment Republicans are showing how out of touch they are by supporting refugee resettlement. Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse stood out among these Republican Senators who are working against the will of their constituents.
“There are 32 million Afghans, we’re talking about 60[ooo] to 80,000 people,” Sasse said on Fox News Sunday. Sasse added:
So the first thing to say is, the American people need to understand who we’re talking about. We’re talking about heroes, who fought with us to take the fight to al Qaeda and the Taliban … When you fought on behalf of Americans to protect our people, you’re welcome in my neighborhood.
Republicans need to stop with this virtue signaling. A more nationalist alternative to the refugee disaster the US government created with its intervention in Afghanistan is to work with strategic partners such as Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey to resettle migrants in these countries who are more culturally and religiously aligned with Afghan refugees.
Populist candidates need to hammer this point hard during the 2022 midterms.
