During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union over the weekend, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) condemned conservative ideologues who have recently taken to ranting against Afghan refugees. He called it “not American” to target refugees as these certain prominent Republicans have done.
This discussion has begun to unfold amid the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, with significant numbers of Afghans who helped American personnel during their time there in need of assistance. Unsurprisingly, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has been among the more prominent elected Republicans ranting against refugees. She recently tweeted that Georgia “shouldn’t welcome Afghan refugees while 1,000’s of Americans are stranded” — although it’s possible for two issues to be dealt with at once, since life isn’t a board game.
Greene was one of the little more than a dozen House Republicans who recently voted against an effort to expand a program providing special immigrant visas for Afghans who helped the U.S., and Kinzinger referenced this issue in his remarks. As he put it:
‘Most Republican members of Congress, for instance, I think — when we talked about doing this Afghan [special immigrant visa] program, we had a vote on that recently, and only like 16 Republicans voted against it. But those 16 Republicans — holy cow, their face should be everywhere, and they should be asked why they did. But what you see is in the media eco-chamber, this fear-mongering, right? This, “They’re coming to your neighborhood; these hordes of people that haven’t been vetted.” I mean, that is not American. You can always have questions with how this was executed, but America’s always been the country that opens our heart. And by the way, refugees to this country have always been the ones that are extremely entrepreneurial. I mean, we all know that. They come here. They work hard, they fight hard for success.’
Kinzinger added that “if anybody wants to go out and fear-monger and continue that darkness in your heart… so you can win an election, A: you are either evil at your heart yourself, or B: you’re a charlatan who’s only interested in winning re-election. And you truly can’t say you care about the health of the American people if you’re out there doing stuff like that.”
Watch Kinzinger below:
.@RepKinzinger (R-IL) calls Republican "fear-mongering" about Afghan refugees "non-American."
Kinzinger to Republicans who do this: "a) you are either evil at your heart yourself or b) you're charlatan who's only interested in winning an election…" pic.twitter.com/HRhBCcdoOa
— The Recount (@therecount) August 22, 2021
As for those in the right-wing media echo chamber who have ranted against refugees, prominent examples include Fox host Tucker Carlson and conservative commentator (and Trump ally) Charlie Kirk. Disgustingly, Kirk claimed that “Joe Biden wants a couple hundred thousand more Ilhan Omars to come into America to change the body politic permanently” — which, although bigoted and nonsensical, supports the racist delusions of Trump’s base.
