Swing State Democrats Approve ‘Unlimited’ Afghan Refugees to U.S.

Arizona's Sen. Mark Kelly (D), Nevada's Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D), Georgia's Sen. 
Courtney Pedroza/Mark Wilson/Bill Clark/Getty Images
John Binder

Swing state and battleground district Democrats in the Senate and House helped approve a plan by President Joe Biden to open an “unlimited” flow of Afghan migration to the United States, critics say, as part of his massive resettlement operation.

Biden has said he hopes to bring about 95,000 Afghans to the U.S. over the next 12 months, resettling them in 46 states — including Arizona, Nevada, and Georgia. Already, nearly 41,000 Afghans are being temporarily housed at U.S. military bases.

On Thursday, swing state Senate Democrats and 15 Senate Republicans helped Democrats pass a government funding bill that gives public benefits like welfare, housing assistance, medical coverage, and state-issued driver’s licenses to tens of thousands of newly-arrived Afghans.

The provision giving driver’s licenses to Afghans actually allows the arrivals to skirt national security requirements imposed by the REAL ID Act that American citizens and all other legal immigrants must follow.

Most significantly, critics have said the bill allows for an “unchecked” and “unlimited” flow of refugees from Afghanistan by opening the resettlement operation to the foreign relatives of Afghans who arrive in the U.S. and extending it to September 2022.

Swing state Democrats like Arizona’s Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen, Georgia’s Raphael Warnock, and Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto all voted for the bill.

Warnock, Kelly, and Cortez Masto would be up for re-election in 2022 while Sinema and Manchin do not face re-election until 2024. Shaheen’s re-election is in 2026.

Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R), running against Cortez Mastro, previously told Breitbart News that Biden’s Afghan resettlement must be shut down.

“We’ve heard the alarming reports of terror suspects mixing with evacuees and the warnings from officials who have described our screening process as overwhelmed by staffing shortages and outdated technology,” Laxalt said. “So until the vetting process can assure safety and security for Nevada families, there must be a moratorium on refugee resettlements in our state.”

Republican challengers Blake Masters and Mark Brnovich, running against Kelly, blasted him for his support of “fully opening our country’s borders” and “not vetting requirements.”

Hillibilly Elegy author J.D. Vance, running for Ohio’s open Senate seat, called the bill “a disaster for our country.” Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), seen as the likely Democrat frontrunner in the Senate race, voted in support of the bill.

In the House, every Democrat and 34 Republicans supported the bill — including 28 House Democrats representing swing districts:

  • Tom Malinowski (D-NJ)
  • Lauren Underwood (D-IL)
  • Cindy Axne (D-IA)
  • Abigail Spanberger (D-VA)
  • Vicente Gonzalez Jr. (D-TX)
  • Angie Craig (D-MN)
  • Conor Lamb (D-PA)
  • Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-GA)
  • Ron Kind (D-WI)
  • Lizzie Pannill Fletcher (D-TX)
  • Haley Stevens (D-MI)
  • Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ)
  • Cheri Bustos (D-IL)
  • Matt Cartwright (D-PA)
  • Jimmy Gomez (D-CA)
  • Susie Lee (D-NV)
  • Susan Wild (D-PA)
  • Kim Schrier (D-WA)
  • Elissa Slotkin (D-MI)
  • Steven Horsford (D-NV)
  • Chris Pappas (D-NH)
  • Colin Allred (D-TX)
  • Elaine Luria (D-VA)
  • Jared Golden (D-ME)
  • Mike Levin (D-CA)
  • Charlie Crist (D-FL)
  • Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
  • Tim Ryan (D-OH)

The massive resettlement operation will ensure that thousands of Afghans are resettled in states like Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Wisconsin, Ohio, Nevada, Florida, California, New Hampshire, Michigan, Washington, Pennsylvania, Maine, Virginia, Illinois, Iowa, New Jersey, and Oregon, among others.

The U.S. already has the most generous legal immigration system in the world.

Over the last 20 years, nearly a million refugees have been resettled in the nation — more than double that of residents living in Miami, Florida, and it would be the equivalent of annually adding the population of Pensacola, Florida.

Refugee resettlement costs taxpayers nearly $9 billion every five years. Over the course of a lifetime, taxpayers pay about $133,000 per refugee and within five years of resettlement, roughly 16 percent will need taxpayer-funded housing assistance.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here. 

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