Washington Post: “Divisions over how to handle an impending Afghan refugee crisis are beginning to emerge among Republicans, potentially leading to clash at a time when GOP leaders are trying to keep the party united around its criticism of President Biden’s handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Several congressional Republicans who have long warned against a hasty retreat out of Afghanistan have been quick to say that the United States should welcome refugees fleeing the country to prevent a humanitarian crisis, especially Afghans who assisted the United States during the long war and women – two groups most likely to face violent retribution under the Taliban regime that has seized control. ‘We need to care for them,’ Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told a local Kentucky television station Tuesday. ‘We owe it to these people, who are our friends and who worked with us, to get them out safely if we can.'”

“But the nativist wing of the party that backed former president Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda are warning that the Afghan refugees could pose a security threat, and they are stoking fears about where they would settle in the United States. Some on the right have characterized the arrival of Afghans as part of their broader ‘replacement theory’ warning – the idea that immigrants and particularly undocumented ones are ‘replacing’ natural-born Americans. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) rebuked Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s suggestion that he may allow the state to accept refugees, warning that he should not do so if Americans still remain in Afghanistan because ‘the future of GA shouldn’t be like MN that voted’ for liberal Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a refugee from Somalia who is often attacked by Republicans. The warnings are also being pushed by former top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who advocated a restrictive immigration policy that his detractors called racist.”