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A senior homeland security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence accused the Trump administration of distorting the truth about Afghan refugees, writing on Twitter that the former president and Stephen Miller, his top immigration adviser, were seeking to prevent refugees from entering the United States.
In an interview, Olivia Troye recalled attending meetings where Mr. Miller demanded restrictions on refugees, including those from Afghanistan and Iraq. She said cuts to the refugee program during the Trump years reduced the government’s ability to bring interpreters and others to the United States.
“Now we’re in this crisis and they say Trump would have evacuated them,” Ms. Troye said. “But he hasn’t done it for four years. You are not playing revisionist history here. There are people who know what the situation is.
President Donald J. Trump and his allies have repeatedly asserted in recent days that his administration would have handled a withdrawal from Afghanistan better than President Biden, whom he criticized for failing to evacuate working Americans and Afghans. with the United States. Top Conservative commentators, including Ben Domenech, tweeted in favor of Mr. Trump.
Ms Troye refuted these claims on Twitter and in an interview, saying instead that Trump administration officials oppose the entry of Afghan and Iraqi allies into the country by granting them a special immigrant visa stating that ‘they were supporting the American war effort.
Mr. Miller “and his facilitators across government would undermine anyone working to solve the SIV problem by devastating the DHS and state system,” she wrote on Twitter.
Mr Miller has been successful in pushing for deep cuts in the number of refugees the United States allows into the country, although the Trump administration has sought to prioritize more limited visas for Afghans and Iraqis to the end of the presidential term.
In 2017, when Mr. Trump imposed a travel ban on foreigners, including Iraqis, HR McMaster, the former national security adviser, was furious that it would block Iraqi allies who assisted the military during the war. the low. After repeated clashes between Mr. McMaster and Mr. Miller, Mr. Trump reluctantly agreed to remove Iraq from the travel ban.
The Biden administration has said it only allows fully controlled Afghans into the United States. But in a series of tweets last week, Miller warned against bringing “millions” of Afghans to the United States.
“Summary: If we’re not careful, all we might have to show for 20 years in Afghanistan is a failed terrorist state, a humanitarian catastrophe and an immigration policy that brought the threat of jihadism to our countries. ribs, ”Miller said. wrote.
“If we are to safely and effectively assist the * millions * of people likely to leave Afghanistan,” he added, “the emphasis must be on regional resettlement – not mass resettlement in Afghanistan. inside the United States.
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