U.S. Sen. Rick Scott raised concerns about refugees from Afghanistan resettling in Florida, questioning the vetting process from the Joe Biden administration.
“Clearly, I’m not satisfied. I went through the same issue — refugees coming into Florida when I was Governor. The federal government, the Biden Administration … (it’s) the same thing that happened with the Obama Administration. They don’t give us good information,” Scott said Wednesday.
“They don’t tell us where the people are going. They don’t tell us if and how they’ve been vetted, anything about them. And let’s all remember: we don’t know. There’s people that are coming here that we don’t know enough about.”
“I want to make sure we take care of every Afghan ally that helped us. But we’ve got to do it in a very methodical and safe manner. And we’ve got to do it in conjunction with our state government and local government, not the federal government telling me what they told me back when Obama was President, that I had no right to know as Governor of Florida who was coming to my state. That was wrong,” Scott said.
The Senator made the comments on WOKV, a radio station in Jacksonville. Jacksonville is one of the most frequent destinations for those escaping the aftermath of the 20-year American involvement in Afghanistan.
The Florida Times-Union notes that in addition to 119 people already settled via Special Immigrant Visas, 300 more may come from Afghanistan and elsewhere under “parolee,” or emergency status, between now and March 2022.
As Scott mentioned in the interview, he also agitated against resettling displaced people in Florida as Governor, questioning the Barack Obama Administration’s vetting of Syrians six years ago in terms similar to those used Wednesday.
“They’re not going to tell us where,” Scott said on Fox News in 2015. “They’re not going to tell us who. I’m responsible for 20 million people’s safety, and over a hundred million tourists per year. That’s concerning.”
