What Afghan refugees will experience when they arrive in the United States will depend on
many variables. Afghans refugees that can relocate with family members or friends in
established Afghan communities will most likely have an easier initial experience assimilating.
For others a sense of community will not come as easily. Refugees arrive in the U.S. with not
much more than the cloths on their back. Even though they are grateful to be here and feel
safe they are in a country that is completely foreign to them on almost every level. Afghan
refugees arrive in the U.S. traumatized and many are still worried about the family members
they left behind.
Nonprofits like the Welcome to America Project help by setting up homes and contacting their
network of churches, synagogues, neighborhood groups whose members provide donations of
furniture, clothing, housewares, gift cards as well as volunteers to assist refugees with everyday
functions such as going to the grocery store or opening a bank account.
In a nation that is polarized on issues from who the real president is to the coronavirus
pandemic, stories of Americans embracing Afghan refugees has been heartwarming. Americans
across the political spectrum have been stepping up to welcome Afghans who worked as
translators or in intelligence services and assisted U.S. forces to free Afghanistan from Taliban
rule.
This stands in contrast to the last four years, led by a president who restricted immigration and
enacted a ban on travel from Muslim countries. The national infrastructure for resettling
refugees has decreased drastically over the last four years as the Trump administration
drastically reduced refugee admissions and cut federal funding for resettlement agencies. With
most of the voting public still deeply divided over immigration, the stability of the present
welcome wagon remains uncertain.
Polls show Republicans are still more hesitant than Democrats to receive Afghans, and some
conservative politicians who backed President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda, is
warning that Afghan refugees could pose a security threat and is fueling fears about where they
would settle in the United States and even suggesting that the current administration was
flooding swing districts with refugees to receive more democratic votes. It is possible the far-
right opposition will exploit Afghan resettlement not just to attack President Biden, but also to
further weaken American democracy.
I’m hoping that momentum will continue, but will it?
Perceived discrimination, defined as a type of stressor resulting from perceived assaults, fear,
and exclusion experienced by racial and ethnic outgroups [10], has been shown to impact
health through multiple pathways including reduced access to employment, housing and
education leading to adverse emotional processes and associated psychopathology [11].
Additionally, stress models indicate that negative emotional states brought on by
discriminatory experiences lead to structural and functional
as a result of pre-migration traumatic experiences and post-resettlement factors such as social
support loss, socio-economic and cultural adjustment difficulties, and difficulty with
immigration and asylum processes
Thousands of Afghans have arrived in the United States since the hurried evacuation of
Afghanistan began in mid-August, including many who helped U.S. forces during its 20-year
involvement in the country's war.
Biden's estimate appeared to refer to Afghans who have applied for a humanitarian visa known
as a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV), and their family members.
Among the Afghans entering the United States are people with approved SIVs and applicants to
the program.
Afghans will be connected with a U.S. refugee resettlement organization
Across the political spectrum, a broad majority of Americans say they favor welcoming Afghan
allies to the U.S. — driven in part by an outpouring of support from groups that generally favor
tougher restrictions on immigration.
Most Americans see a "duty" to help
The poll was conducted between Sept. 1 and 2, just days after the end of the U.S. airlift out of
Kabul. It found that nearly three in four Americans, including 73% of Republicans, favor
resettling Afghans who worked with the U.S. government. Nearly two-thirds of all respondents
support resettling Afghans who fear repression or persecution from the Taliban.
who either worked with the U.S. government or served in the U.S. allied special forces, into the
United States
Since Aug. 17, more than 60,000 Afghan refugees have arrived in the United States.
Anti-Muslim groups deployed familiar tactics of framing refugees from Muslim majority
countries such as Afghanistan as not only a national security threat but also a cultural one.
More than seven out of 10 Americans support resettling Afghans who worked with the U.S.
government or military, according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll. That number includes strong
majorities of Republicans, as well as white and rural voters, who are less likely to support
admitting refugees and migrants from other parts of the world.
President Joe Biden plans to resettle tens of thousands of Afghans who were able to escape,
But ensuring the safety of all vulnerable Afghans will require doing more than that.
However, in the face of right-wing fearmongering about security and Afghans’ ability to
assimilate, it’s not clear that Biden and Democrats in Congress will risk political capital on
helping not just the most sympathetic Afghans and those who aided US troops over the past 20
years, but also other at-risk groups, such as women’s rights activists and LGBTQ individuals.
Adding to the uncertainty is that Republicans have begun to use the Afghan refugee crisis as a
political cudgel against Democrats ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, stoking the same anti-
immigrant sentiments that catapulted Trump into office in 2016.
In order to fulfill the US’s obligation to Afghans, Democrats will have to weather — and risk
losing their seats over — such attacks. Should they choose to do so, they will find they have
some cover: So far, the public has largely supported efforts to resettle Afghans in the US. But
public support can be transient. It is up to Biden and his fellow Democrats to assume the risk
inherent with broadening the refugee effort now, while the public still supports it. It is also
necessary to ensure that support endures through what could be a yearslong resettlement
process, as more Afghans continue to seek the US’s protection.
