Vice President JD Vance clashed with CBS host Margaret Brennan Sunday morning when the Republican defended President Trump’s decision to halt a refugee program that quickly barred hundreds of Afghans from reaching the US last week.
Vance tore into Brennan during a sit-down interview on “Face the Nation,” arguing the vetting process refugees currently undergo is not thorough enough and that his “primary concern as the vice president is to look after the American people.”
Brennan asked whether Afghan refugees, including some who worked with the US government, should be allowed in the country, and pointed out Vance said last year he doesn’t think the country “should abandon anybody who’s been properly vetted and helped us.”
But Vance was quick to insist he doesn’t think all the refugees have been vetted the right way.
“And now that we know that we have vetting problems with a lot of these refugee programs, we absolutely cannot unleash thousands of unvetted people into our country,” the veep added.
After further prodding by Brennan, Vance shot back, citing an Afghan national who was arrested after allegedly planning a terrorist attack on Election Day last November.
The suspect, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, was living in Oklahoma City on a Special Immigrant Visa when he was allowed in after the Biden administration’s sloppy withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
“I don’t want my children to share a neighborhood with people who are not properly vetted, and because I don’t want it for my kids, I’m not going to force any other American citizen’s kids to do that either,” Vance, a married father of three, said.
Brennan replied it wasn’t clear if he was radicalized after he arrived in the US or while he was still in the Middle East, arguing it was a “very particular case.”
“I don’t really care, Margaret,” Vance then answered.
“I don’t want that person in my country, and I think most Americans agree with me.”
Tawhedi didn’t arrive in the US through a refugee program, but through a humanitarian parole program and was allowed to stay temporarily while applying for resident status, officials said last year.
Trump last week suspended America’s refugee resettlement program, an action that was initially expected to take effect Monday. But travel plans were also subsequently canceled for refugees already greenlit to enter the country potentially before the order started.
Among those whose plans were put on pause were more than 1,600 Afghans who helped the US during its war in the Middle Eastern country, the Associated Press reported.
The refugee program has allowed hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and persecution across the globe to reach the US.
With Post wires
