Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) urges President Biden to resettle at least 200,000 Afghans across the United States in part of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Ocasio-Cortez urged Biden to set a floor of 200,000 visas for Afghans to be brought to the U.S. for permanent resettlement and eventual naturalized American citizenship in an interview with The Independent.
With the implementation of such a plan, resettling 200,000 Afghans would be the equivalent of bringing 4.5 percent of the total number of Afghans residing in Kabul, Afghanistan, to the U.S.
Ocasio-Cortez stated:
“I believe we need to move, and the administration needs to move as quickly as possible and as expansively as possible, ensuring that we are raising the amount of refugee visas to whatever amount is necessary,” the self-described democratic socialist congresswoman told The Independent. [Emphasis added]
“I would say the rock bottom is 200,000, but I think it should be whatever is necessary,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said. “And that needs to be expedited as soon as possible.” [Emphasis added]
The Biden administration has continued to expand the number of Afghans to be resettled across the U.S. – he has said up to 65,000 are eligible for resettlement – House and Senate Democrats are urging more Afghans should be evacuated.
As of late, at least 10 Republican governors have urged Biden to resettle Afghans in their states, including South Carolina’s Henry McMaster, Maryland’s Larry Hogan, Massachusetts’ Charlie Baker, Utah’s Spencer Cox, Georgia’s Brian Kemp, Arkansas’ Asa Hutchinson, Arizona’s Doug Ducey, Iowa’s Kim Reynolds, Oklahoma’s Kevin Stitts, and Vermont’s Phil Scott.
Ocasio-Cortez failed to mention the cost to American taxpayers for Refugee resettlement, every five years; citizens are billed nearly $9 billion to resettle refugees. Each refugee in the U.S. costs around $133,000 over the course of their lifetime.
