Tipsheet

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst on Afghan Refugees: ‘We Want to Welcome Those Who are Fully Vetted’

Madeline Leesman
Madeline Leesman  |  August 23, 2021 5:00 PM

This week, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst said Afghans being evacuated amid the Taliban recapture of Afghanistan will be welcomed in the United States as long as they’ve been “fully vetted.”

During an interview on ABC’s “This Week” segment, Ernst explained that she and her Republican colleagues want to welcome Afghan evacuees into the United States once they have been vetted and criticized Biden’s “haphazard” handling of our pullout from Afghanistan.

“We want to welcome those that are fully vetted,” Ernst said. “That is extremely important – that we make sure they are vetted before they touch down on American soil.”

Ernst added on, saying that it’s important to continue working with third country nations in getting refugees vetted and “providing them whatever support we can within those countries.”

In another portion of the segment, Ernst explained that U.S. troops should be helping Americans in Afghanistan safely reach the Kabul airport.

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“We should be doing everything possible to get Americans safely to the airport for evacuation,” Ernst said in the interview. “We are the strongest military on the face of this planet and we should be exercising those authorities to make sure that we’re flexing our military muscle, especially when it comes to evacuating Americans.”

Without being prompted, Ernst ripped into Biden’s hasty exit from Afghanistan, saying he “messed up” and jeopardized the safety of all those who helped us during the war the past 20 years.

“This is where President Biden unfortunately has really – he’s messed it up. I’ll just put it out there. Of course, with the international community, with this haphazard withdrawal… If we had been working with those allies, those partner countries, this would have been a lot easier,” Ernst said in the segment. “He knew this day was coming, and yet again, was very slow to respond to the needs of not only our American citizens – by pulling those troops out before we had them safely out of Afghanistan – but he’s also again jeopardized those that were partners to us in an extended War on Terror.”