Guess they should fly to Mexico and walk in like everybody else.
UPDATE: The organizers tell me they’ve actually discussed that option. There’s a logic to it: set one massive breakdown of the US government against another one, and maybe they’d cancel out.
Jerks. I sure hope this turns out to be nothing more than incompetent red tape delay.
ReplyDeleteThe article makes it sound like perfectly prudent verification of the identities of those onboard. If so, I'd think that was good- but doubt they held their own evacs to the same standard. I'd also wonder why they can't be processed stateside. Is there evidence that it's more nefarious or stupid than that, or both?
ReplyDeleteIt’s definitely true that Afghan nationals’ travel documents need to be verified, and that a lot of them are traveling without documents (their government having dissolved, and the Taliban wishing to issue them bullets rather than passports). This is why we have been trying so hard to coordinate with the State Department.
ReplyDeleteUS passport holders are another story.
Some numbers I've seen indicate that less than 10% of Afghan nationals flown out are likely to be eligible under various special visa programs.
ReplyDeleteThis was telegraphed early with the reporting of raw number of people flown out with no status references, the shift to staying until 'citizens' 'who wanted to leave' were returned, and other verbal slight of hand that indicated the Biden administration was not pressing the Taliban to allow people who should have been repatriated out.
Well, that was the official evacuation. Ours have been better because they've been conducted by veterans who actually knew the people and families being evacuated.
ReplyDeleteThat said, bribery at Taliban-controlled airports is a thing, and there's always a chance someone will end up on the plane who isn't even on the manifest. As Douglas says, though, why couldn't you check that at the Customs and Border Protection station at Dulles or Chicago rather than banning the whole plane from flying from Africa? The whole point of such checkpoints is to pass through the passport holders, those with proper visas, and to exclude those who do not belong.
https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2021/10/01/americans-afghan-evacuees-on-charter-flight-denied-entry-in-u-s-arrive-in-chicago-n419661
ReplyDelete