Republicans Prepare for Fight Over Afghan Refugee Resettlement; How Biden is Resettling Afghans in the US; Defense Department Holding 20,000 Evacuated Afghans in U.S., 43,000 more overseas, and related stories

Republicans prepare for fight over Afghan refugee resettlement:

A coming effort to resettle thousands of Afghan refugees across the United States has already begun to divide Republicans, who nonetheless remain steadfastly unified in their criticism of the evacuation effort that made the resettlement possible.

Some GOP lawmakers have raised concerns about how much the Biden administration will vet the Afghans it plans to bring to the U.S. for a virtually unprecedented resettlement effort — while others have embraced the idea of welcoming Afghans who assisted U.S. forces on the grounds that failing to do so would dissuade civilians in other countries from helping the American military in the future.

The rift is likely to exacerbate existing tensions within the party over how to approach immigration policy more broadly.

“It is a national security issue, and when I see that, previously, there was a 14-step process that had been established that took anywhere from 18 to 24 months in order to clear these individuals, I don’t see how in the world we can take well over 100,000 people now, and all of a sudden wave a magic wand and condense that vetting period and process into a couple of weeks’ time,” Rep. Matt Rosendale, a Montana Republican, told the Washington Examiner.

“Even through that vetting process, you need to keep in mind that they are not screening these people for ideological flags,” Rosendale added. —>READ MORE HERE

How Biden is resettling Afghans in the US:

The Biden administration faces the enormous task of resettling well over 100,000 people evacuated from Afghanistan over the past two weeks.

The process is extremely complicated, with even seasoned refugee organization leaders troubled by the complexities of the global process.

Here’s a breakdown of how it will work:

How many Afghans will the United States welcome?

The U.S. and other partner nations evacuated 122,300 people in July and August, according to data provided by the White House on Aug. 29. More than 116,700 people were flown to U.S. and military bases in allied countries in Europe and the Middle East over the past two weeks since the Taliban seized control of the country.

Most are Afghans who helped the U.S. during the war, while some are Americans whose families are Afghan.

As many as 50,000 seekers of Special Immigrant Visa, intended for those who helped the U.S. during the war, are expected to arrive in the coming weeks. The government has not released numbers confirming who the remaining 70,000 are, though most are believed to be refugees. —>READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to related stories:

+++++Defense Department holding 20,000 evacuated Afghans in U.S., 43,000 more overseas+++++

Joe Biden Opens U.S. Borders to Nearly 24K Afghans in Last Two Weeks

‘They can leave at any time’: Congressman expresses concern over unvetted Afghans at U.S. Army base

As Trump Warns of Terrorism From Afghan Refugees, Some in GOP Look for Ways to Welcome Them

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