During the final, chaotic days of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., emerged as an unwavering advocate for resettling Afghan citizens who had helped the United States and its allies.
“We have failed in our obligation to help many of these Afghans who risked their lives, and in many cases died, for the cause of their own country to help the United States, and we owe it to them to help them enter our country with these visas,” Barr said then in an interview with Kentucky Educational Television.
Now a Senate candidate, Barr saw his comments resurface and quickly go viral last week following the shooting of two National Guard members, one of whom died, in Washington, DC. Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who served alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Lakanwal pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges including first-degree murder.
“I don’t think we owe anything to foreigners from Afghanistan, but I do think our politicians owe it to the American citizens they are supposed to represent, not to flood our country with thousands of third world people who don’t share our values and never will,” wrote businessman Nate Morris, one of Barr’s rivals in the GOP primary, in a social media post sharing a clip of the interview.
The clash offered a preview of how the issue could hamper other Republicans running in competitive primaries next year, from the already hostile Kentucky race to Sen. John Cornyn’s re-election battle in Texas and gubernatorial campaigns in Florida and South Carolina.
It’s also a fight that reflects shifting goals for a Republican Party in which even legal immigration has become a source of debate. The attack on the Guard members (who officials say was targeted) validated warnings from several prominent right-wing figures, including Vice President JD Vance, who had argued that the resettlement of Afghan refugees could have tragic consequences.
“This has become a hot button issue for MAGA,” said a top Republican strategist involved in several state elections who was granted anonymity to share candid observations about tensions within the party.
“Any Republican running in a competitive primary who has a history of supporting the arrival of Afghan refugees after [then-President Joe] “Biden’s retreat is probably not sleeping well right now,” the strategist added. “The base is out for blood and not only are they blaming the Democrats for what happened to those two national guardsmen, they are blaming the Republicans who they believe are betraying the country on these immigration issues.”
The motive for last week’s shooting is unknown. Lakanwal, who had worked under the direction of the CIA and, according to former military and intelligence officials, would have been subjected to extensive vetting for that role, arrived in the United States as part of Operation Allied Welcome. The Biden-era program aimed to support “vulnerable Afghans” and those who worked alongside US forces in Afghanistan by helping them resettle in the United States.
Many Afghan citizens applied for asylum (another process that typically includes extensive vetting) while waiting for special immigrant visa applications to be processed. Lakanwal was granted asylum this year under President Donald Trump, sources told NBC News. Trump administration officials have not disclosed whether Lakanwal ever received a special immigrant visa.
Since the shooting, Trump has called for re-examination of all Afghan citizens who came to the United States during the Biden administration and promised to “permanently pause” all immigration from what he called “Third World countries.”
Barr, like all but 16 House Democrats and all but 16 House Republicans, voted in July 2021 to expand and expedite special immigrant visas for Afghan evacuees. The bill never became law, and within weeks the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, initiated by Trump in his first term and executed by Biden, descended into chaos. An overwhelmingly bipartisan effort soon gave way to more tribal politics.
While Morris has been drawing attention to the visa issue since the shooting, another Republican in the Kentucky race, former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, has not mentioned it in his social media posts.
A spokesperson for Barr’s campaign declined to answer questions about his 2021 comments, instead referring to a statement Barr issued after last week’s shooting. In the statement, Barr emphasized a September 2021 vote against a continuing resolution that prevented a government shutdown and included funding for Biden’s evacuee program.
“As I’ve said repeatedly, ‘if we can’t vet them, they don’t belong here,’” Barr said. “President Trump is cleaning up Biden’s mess and I fully support him.”
Cornyn, who will face major challenges in Texas next year from Rep. Wesley Hunt and state Attorney General Ken Paxton, could also find himself vulnerable on this issue. In June 2021, Cornyn joined Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., to introduce a bill that would have expedited special immigrant visas for Afghan interpreters and translators who helped the United States and, unlike Barr, voted in favor of subsequent continuing resolutions that helped fund the evacuee program.
Natalie Yezbick, a spokesperson for Cornyn, emphasized in an email that Lakanwal initially arrived in the country under the Biden-era program, not with a special immigrant visa.
“Senator Cornyn has repeatedly warned about the dangers of the Biden administration’s parole programs and wrote a letter last year specifically warning about problems with Afghan vetting,” Yezbick wrote. “It is inaccurate to say that Senator Cornyn supported the program under which this individual entered the US.”
Hunt, who when asked about visas in 2024 told NOTUS that “we should be loyal” to those “who were loyal to us,” said Tuesday that he plans to introduce legislation to “repeal all available special Afghan immigrant visas.”
“What happened last week in Washington, DC, is a tragedy, born of years of decisions made by entrenched elites who consistently prioritize foreigners over the American people,” said Hunt, who was not in Congress during the 2021 votes.
Paxton, in an emailed statement, expressed similar thoughts, accusing Cornyn of focusing more on “helping foreign invaders than himself.” [on] protect real Americans and prevent terrorists from entering our country.”
In Florida, investment firm CEO James Fishback raised the issue against Trump-backed Rep. Byron Donalds in the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary. Donalds voted for the July 2021 special immigrant visa bill, but against subsequent spending bills.
“Why did you vote to let in thousands of unauthorized Afghans?” Fishback, who is positioning himself as a loyalist to term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former Trump rival, wrote in a post on X last week that included a clip from a 2021 interview in which Donalds spoke in favor of resettling Afghan allies.
Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to Donalds’ campaign, referenced the December 2021 continuing resolution, which passed the House without a single Republican vote.
“Republicans did not vote for the CR that funded Operation Welcome Allies, Joe Biden’s reckless Afghan resettlement program,” Alvarez said. “Byron Donalds has been rock solid from day 1: if you are in this country unauthorized or illegally, get out.”
Meanwhile, in South Carolina, the crowded Republican gubernatorial primary field includes two supporters of the initial July 2021 visa bill: Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman. The issue could also come into play in Iowa, where Rep. Ashley Hinson is seeking a Senate promotion and Rep. Randy Feenstra is running for governor, and in Wisconsin, where Rep. Tom Tiffany is running for governor. All three Republicans voted in favor of the July 2021 bill and are early favorites in their primaries.
“Like many Americans, I supported improving the Special Immigrant Visa process and strongly opposed President Biden’s legally dubious use of so-called ‘categorical parole’ during the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan,” Tiffany said in a statement to NBC News. “All Afghans brought in under the Biden administration must be re-examined.”
A second Republican strategist who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about how Republicans could weaponize the issue against each other acknowledged the nuance of the issue: that House members supported visas before it was clear how complicated the withdrawal would be.
“That’s the problem with being a starter. Maybe you got some f—– votes,” the strategist added. “It might have been something most other Republicans voted for. But on game day, that doesn’t matter to voters.”
“I think this will become something very important,” they added. “Hey, if I’m Nate Morris, I’m using it.”
