Like most leftists, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is an expert at spending OPM (Other People’s Money).
In her latest harebrained scheme, the self-described democratic socialist is demanding that the Biden administration issue at least 200,000 special immigrant visas to refugees fleeing Afghanistan.
“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,” Ocasio-Cortez told The Independent.
“I would say the rock bottom is 200,000, but I think it should be whatever is necessary,” she added. “And that needs to be expedited as soon as possible.”
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, it costs American taxpayers $60,000 to $133,000 to resettle a refugee in the U.S. over the course of a lifetime.
Using this calculus, AOC is demanding $12 billion to $26 billion to relocate, feed and house Afghan refugees, while the U.S. has already wasted $2 trillion over the past 20 years intervening in Afghanistan.
That’s not including the billions of dollars worth of military equipment we left behind for the Taliban thanks to President Joe Biden’s incompetent withdrawal.
Unbelievable incompetence pic.twitter.com/kXkkGMdJq3
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 23, 2021
To be clear, some Afghan refugees earned special visas because they helped U.S. forces. It’s also understandable why people are fleeing the Taliban-controlled country.
[firefly_poll]
But the U.S. is not obligated to help everyone who needs it. Do you feed your own child first, or is feeding all your neighbors’ children your top priority?
The U.S. gives out billions of dollars in foreign aid every year.
In June, we gave $266 million to the people of Afghanistan — bringing our total humanitarian assistance to nearly $4 billion since 2002.
In April, AOC demanded that American taxpayers give “reparations” to illegal migrant families because they’re not given luxury accommodations in federal holding centers after they break U.S. laws to sneak across our border.
When it comes to throwing our tax dollars out the window, AOC is a champ — as long as it benefits anyone but Americans.
The U.S. currently has 34,500 visas allocated for Afghans after the number was expanded by 8,000 last month, but both Democrats and Republicans are urging Biden to increase that amount.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed that the U.S. has evacuated 82,300 people from Kabul since Aug. 14.
The same day, White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed that at least 70,000 Afghans have been evacuated.
That’s great news for the refugees, but what about the thousands of Americans still trapped in Afghanistan?
Why is the Biden administration seemingly prioritizing foreign nationals over American citizens? This disturbing “America Last” policy is a recurring theme of this administration and the agenda of Democrats such as AOC.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson echoed the sentiments of millions of Americans when he slammed Biden for prioritizing foreigners over Americans — you know, the people who have paid his salary for the past five decades.
“The Biden administration told us that American citizens would not be given priority in the evacuation from Kabul,” he said in a scathing monologue on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Aug. 16.
“So our government’s official position is that American lives are not more valuable than the lives of foreigners, but you already knew that because you’ve seen our southern border.”
Carlson said the Democratic agenda is to flood the U.S. with unvetted illegal aliens and refugees, regardless of the resulting financial burden and social turmoil.
“The people who made the Afghan occupation possible would like to see a lot more of our southern border, much more unrestrained immigration to the U.S.,” he said.
“‘Bring in the refugees!’ they’re screaming tonight. That’s the only lesson they’re taking from this debacle. Quote: ‘America must not stand idly by,’ Mitt Romney tweeted today. ‘The president must urgently rush to defend, rescue, and give and expand asylum. There is no time to spare.'”
America must not stand idly by as our Afghan friends are brutalized by the Taliban. For honor, for meaning of lives lost, and for simple humanity, the President must urgently rush to defend, rescue, and give and expand asylum. There is no time to spare.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) August 13, 2021
Carlson noted that while politicians obsequiously cater to the needs of foreigners, Americans here are suffering and dying.
And no one in Washington seems to care.
“There’s lots of time to spare as Americans die of fentanyl ODs and millions of foreign nationals whose identities we can’t confirm move here, but when it comes to bringing Afghans to our country, ‘there’s no time to spare,'” Carlson said.
“And Liz Cheney firmly agrees with that. So does her friend Bill Kristol and Nancy Pelosi and Victoria Nuland at the State Department, and so many more — so many more — just like them,” he said.
Carlson said that at the rate things are going, America as we know it will be destroyed — but that was the plan all along for our clueless, anti-American leaders.
“These are the architects of the disaster we are watching unfold on television,” Carlson said. “They should be groveling for our forgiveness, but they’re not. Why? Because contrition requires decency. There’s no chance.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.