Americans from all walks of life berated US congressperson and Montana State Representative Matt Rosendale for his anti-refugee diatribe against the resettlement of 75 Afghan refugees in his state.
In a tweet on Thursday, Rosendale said that it was unlikely that the refugees were properly vetted and critiqued President Joe Biden’s administration that it had grossly mismanaged the Afghanistan crisis. He added that Biden’s ‘incompetence’ could not justify leaving Americans unprotected.
Rosendale maintained that the refugees should be settled in countries that were more attuned to their ‘values’ and ‘culture’.
Several called Rosendale’s scathing remarks on refugees ‘un-American’. US Congressman Dean Phillips said that it was ‘un-American’ to launch a tirade against immigrants, especially ones who aided the US in the War on Terror in Afghanistan.
Lawyer Tristan Snell also labelled Rosendale ‘un-American’ and said that he strongly opposed him holding office in the US government.
Congressman Sean Casten was perturbed by Rosendale’s fixation on 75 refugees being too many. Casten said he learned that 75 Montanans went to Chicago for a gathering and even though the city wasn’t as large as Montana, the outflux of 75 people escaped Rosendale’s notice.
Veterans who served in US backed wars were also displeased with Rosendale. US Congressman and former Iraq War veteran Ruben Gallego said the Capitol Hill siege rebels from January 6 were the real ‘terrorists’ that Rosendale should be bothered about. Gallego referred to the insurrection at Capitol Hill by former president Donald Trump’s supporters and wondered how many Montanans contributed to that mayhem.
Journalist Kyle Griffin added that Rosendale’s fellow Republicans knew he was wrong. Griffin quoted Senator Steve Daines who said that Afghan refugees were welcome because they loved the US and deserved a fighting chance to flee the Taliban.
Human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid posted a map of Montana and hinted at Rosendale’s hypocrisy since the land belonged to Native Americans originally and did not belong to modern day US to begin with.
Lawyer and journalist Amee Vanderpool took a sardonic jab at Rosendale and said that the tourism industry was probably real pleased with him for rejecting outsiders.
Journalist Josh Mankiewicz chimed in and said it was strange that people who ‘whined’ about US leaving Afghans behind, didn’t really care for them.
Mankiewicz made a possible reference to the general critique that Republicans have levelled against Biden in the wake of US departure from Afghanistan. As chaos unfolded in Kabul on August 15, many Republicans lambasted Biden for not paying attention to Afghans who had assisted the US in their mission.
Republican Party member and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel had said that Afghans looked to the US to evacuate them. McConnel had further said that the US owed it to Afghans to lead them to safety in America or elsewhere.
