it is no secret that the trump administration carried out extremely xenophobic and immigration policies. when we look at the turmoil happening now. we have to ask as well, this afghanistan is a responsibility and that falls upon the shoulders of virtually ever president since george w. bush. one of the things we see, what was the trump administration doing when they were not preevacuating out under the siv program these afghan interpreters and nationals and allies. it is because of stephen miller and his ret trick and the xenophobia of the trump administration that there were many thousands of afghans we could have worked on evacuating much earlier than even this year. that being said, the politics of it, i can tell you september 11th happened when i was about 12 years old, and there is was a boy in my class named kevin and i would not know that
heartbreaking day for our country. so my sympathies to the service members families, to the 13 now i guess that we have lost and 15 wounded and of course scores of afghans and others. i condemn the terrorist attacks. we have to continue our mission. but, joy, that interview, i was staggered to learn that it was lieutenant byrd who made that announcement on the floor of the house. for the last seven months i have wondered who was it trying to help save our lives? i was up in the gallery that day as they told us first sit down, prepare to lie down, then get your gas masks out from under your seat. and then that announcement, they have infiltrated the rotunda and tear gas has been deployed. i have wondered for months who did that to save our lives. and what i want people to know is, number one, thank you,
biden administration to, as they set their refugee quotas, to make it no less than 200,000 in the upcoming year. absolutely. we heard it could be two or 300,000 people that helped us over the course of 20 years we were there. i want to show you the ceiling. we used to have an annual ceiling of 231,000 people under ronald reagan. no moderate figure there. george w. bush 70,000. under president obama it was 85,000. under trump 15,000. we have had former members of the administration come forward and talk about steven miller essentially waging rhetorical war against the idea of afghans coming here. we have seen people on another network call them invaders. so there is another side of this. there is another side that doesn t want any of them here. so do you think that the politics around bringing more people in are going to be challenged by that xenophobic attitude we are seeing play out?
done? to speak to today s attack, what happened is just an absolute and utter travesty. and these marines that have passed away, 13 now, as well as 60 afghans that died in the explosions, we have i mean, this is the human cost of war. and this is what makes war immoral. and when it comes to the devastation that we have seen in afghanistan, the united states plays a role. we have a responsibility. and in order to carry out and in order to make good on the role that we have played in this violence we have a responsibility to make a home for the people whose lives have been up ended by interventionist u.s. foreign policy. and so, as a result, i m proud to have co-wrote a letter with barbara lee to ask and urge the
die on that airfield. ben, the situation that the white house faces is the taliban controls the rings outside. those checkpoints that make it so difficult for afghans and americans to get through to get to the airport, they control those. meaning that all of the access and egress that makes us more vulnerable, that s in their hands. it doesn t seem that there s a logical argument for adding more troops unless they re going to fan out throughout the country. that in a sense means restarting the war. yeah. i mean the reality is to build on something clint said, there have been a number of truly catastrophic attacks in kabul in recent years that have taken the lives of hundreds of afghans. the difference now is that when those attacks are taking place, our military was hunkered down at basis like bagram. now we re securing the perimeter of this airport. and the reality is if you send more troops in to extend the perimeter of that airport, right beyond that perimeter, you would