Karoline Leavitt Sets the Record Straight on Afghan Refugees

On Tuesday, during a White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took a moment to correct a questioner on the status of Afghan refugees. The Afghans in question were brought in by the Biden administration, claiming refugee status. And, as we've come to expect from the legacy media, the questioner had the facts wrong - but PressSec quickly set her straight.

Reporter: "The administration ended some temporary protections for Afghans..."@PressSec: "We didn't end that proactively. It expired. And it's because the previous administration illegally paroled hundreds of thousands of people into the country... It's a temporary status. It's… pic.twitter.com/WLoUeDznsn
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 22, 2025

It was an interesting exchange, and it brings up something of an interesting question.

Reporter: The administration ended some temporary protections for Afghans, including several hundred Christians who had been punished by the Taliban. Is the president considering any exception for Afghans who could face death or torture if they are returned to their home country?
Karoline Leavitt: So, let's just be clear about one thing. We didn't end that proactively. It expired. And, it's because the previous administration illegally paroled millions - hundreds of thousands of people, sorry, into the country and then gave them temporary protected status. Which, again, is a temporary status. It's not a permanent status in this country. And if there are individuals here who came in through the Biden administration who want to claim asylum, there is a legal process to do that, and those cases will be adjudicated by a judge on a case-by-case basis. We have a legal immigration process in this country for a reason, and all this administration is trying to do is to effectuate that.

The reporter's claim that many of the refugees are Christians. Now, there's a dilemma. How does the reporter know that many of the refugees are Christians? How would anyone know? Are the refugees claiming to be Christians telling the truth? We can't read minds, after all.

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The United States has a history of taking in refugees who legitimately face death or torture in their homeland. President Trump has mentioned bringing in white South African farmers, for example, who are being persecuted by the South African government. And there can't be any argument that Afghan Christians are ill-treated by the Taliban. That's assuming there are any left today; as recently as 2009, there was a "small, hidden Christian community" numbering between 500 and 8,000. These people, if any are left, aren't going to fare well under the Taliban. For that matter, almost nobody is going to fare well under the Taliban, but that's another story.

But there's the problem: How does one identify a Christian among all the Afghans brought over by the Biden administration? Are we simply going to take their word for it? That doesn't seem wise; the moment that became known, every single Afghan in the country awaiting adjudication would immediately claim to be Christian, whether they were or not. How would we determine the truth? Offer each refugee a strip of bacon? That doesn't seem decisive. What other means might work? Offer them a silver cross to wear around their necks? They aren't vampires; anyone can wear anything if it will help them achieve their goal.

It's a sticky problem.

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