The previous administration bears responsibility for the back log of Afghan allies currently stranded in Afghanistan. The Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) process was intentionally slowed in the four years prior, thanks to Steven Miller, Trump and their allies.
Olivia Troye was the Counter Terrorism and HLS advisor to Mike Pence
Yesterday on Twitter, She explained that at the exact same time that the Trump admin was making plans to end US presence in Afghanistan, Trump and Steven Miller were intentionally sabotaging and halting efforts to obtain SIVs for our Afghan allies like translators and security contractors.
Remember, Trump bragged that there was no way for Biden to stop the plans. He also knew that the Taliban would take over as soon as the US left. And THAT is when they decided to gum up the process for SIVs.
(EDIT: To be clear, I am complaining that the previous admin created a large backlog of visa applicants. I am not complaining that Trump's exit plan sucked (which it probably would have anyway, given his experience with the Syria withdrawal))
Olivia of Troye@OliviaTroye
Aug 20
There were cabinet mtgs about this during the Trump Admin where Stephen Miller would peddle his racist hysteria about Iraq & Afghanistan.He & his enablers across gov’t would undermine anyone who worked on solving the SIV issue by devastating the system at DHS & State.(1/7)
Aug 20
I tracked this issue personally in my role during my WH tenure. Pence was fully aware of the problem. We got nowhere on it because Trump/S. Miller had watchdogs in place at DOJ, DHS, State & security agencies that made an already cumbersome SIV process even more challenging.(2/7)
Aug 20
I met w/ numerous external organizations during my White House tenure who advocated for refugees & pleaded for help in getting US allies through the process. I got the phone calls & letters as the homeland security & CT advisor to Pence…(3/7)
Aug 20
The system wouldn’t budge, regardless of how much this was argued about in National Security Council mtgs. The Pentagon weighed in saying we needed to get these allies through the process-Mattis/others sent memos. We all knew the urgency but the resources had been depleted.(4/7)
Aug 20
The fear of people across the Trump Admin to counter these enablers was palpable. There were numerous behind closed door meetings held-strategizing how to navigate this issue. The Trump Admin had FOUR years…(5/7)
Aug 20
Trump had FOUR years-while putting this plan in place-to evacuate these Afghan allies who were the lifelines for many of us who spent time in Afghanistan. They’d been waiting a long time. The process slowed to a trickle for reviews/other “priorities”-then came to a halt.(6/7)
Elizabeth Neuman was a senior HLS official under Trump and confirmed Troye’s account of the situation on Twitter...
Elizabeth Neumann@NeuSummits
Aug 20
I can vouch for@OliviaTroye’s characterization. Will add that we have proof of what Trump would have done - he abandoned our allies in the no-notice decision to withdraw from Syria. Kurds, Iraqi SIVs, P2s, NGOs were left scrambling and many died.
In 2019, a federal court ruled that the Trump admin broke the law by dramatically dragging out the SIV process.
In an interview With Rachel Maddow Troye says, “It was a well known thing that Steven Miller allies were across the agency. ...They were installed on purpose. …Other career public servants who were dedicated to trying to figure this process out were then removed from their roles and replaced with [Trump] loyalists who only made this process harder.”