A.G. Gancarski
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott raised concerns about refugees from Afghanistan resettling in Florida, questioning the vetting process from the Joe Biden administration.
“Clearly, I’m not satisfied. I went through the same issue — refugees coming into Florida when I was Governor. The federal government, the Biden Administration … (it’s) the same thing that happened with the Obama Administration. They don’t give us good information,” Scott said Wednesday.
“They don’t tell us where the people are going. They don’t tell us if and how they’ve been vetted, anything about them. And let’s all remember: we don’t know. There’s people that are coming here that we don’t know enough about.”
“I want to make sure we take care of every Afghan ally that helped us. But we’ve got to do it in a very methodical and safe manner. And we’ve got to do it in conjunction with our state government and local government, not the federal government telling me what they told me back when Obama was President, that I had no right to know as Governor of Florida who was coming to my state. That was wrong,” Scott said.
The Senator made the comments on WOKV, a radio station in Jacksonville. Jacksonville is one of the most frequent destinations for those escaping the aftermath of the 20-year American involvement in Afghanistan.
The Florida Times-Union notes that in addition to 119 people already settled via Special Immigrant Visas, 300 more may come from Afghanistan and elsewhere under “parolee,” or emergency status, between now and March 2022.
As Scott mentioned in the interview, he also agitated against resettling displaced people in Florida as Governor, questioning the Barack Obama Administration’s vetting of Syrians six years ago in terms similar to those used Wednesday.
“They’re not going to tell us where,” Scott said on Fox News in 2015. “They’re not going to tell us who. I’m responsible for 20 million people’s safety, and over a hundred million tourists per year. That’s concerning.”
3 comments
Frankie M.
September 8, 2021 at 10:46 am
Same movie. Different day. I guess nobody told Ricky or Jax mayor Lenny Curry that Jax is already home to one of the largest Syrian populations in the U.S. Maybe we should deport the ones that are already here? Ricky needs to make up his mind. Are we gonna take every man, woman, child, & dog from Afghanistan or just the ones he deems worthy? Will his vetting process be similar to the clemency hearings he held for ex-felons looking to restore their voting rights? If so we need to reinstitute some arbitrary standards to see who is worthy.
Andrew Finn
September 8, 2021 at 11:30 am
Same old story about refugees coming into the United States. Yes, it is wonderful to help these people who are deserving of the chance we can give them in America. No problem there. The big question is —- how many undesirables (i.e. criminals and the like) are we going to have to deal with ?? That’s a valid concern, whether it’s “politically correct” or not.
Deb Dunn
September 10, 2021 at 11:59 am
I thought all the one coming to the USA were already USA citizens with duel citizenship. Many other countries took a lot of them.
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