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A recent poll has found that 84 percent of Americans support admitting Afghan translators who assisted the U.S. Military into the United States.
The poll asked 1,000 U.S. citizens whether the U.S. should grant special refugee status to Afghans who worked as translators for the U.S. military as well as the translators' immediate family members. Among the respondents, 843 said "yes", 101 said "no" and 56 were undecided.
The poll was conducted by Suffolk University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, in partnership with USA Today. The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
A closer look at the poll's data found that Democrats and Independents were only slightly more likely than Republicans to support Afghan translators relocating into the United States. While 294 self-identified Democrats and 298 self-identified Independents supported the measure, so did 241 self-identified Republicans.
The findings contradict worries propagated by right-wing media figures of Afghan refugees "invading" the U.S., a sentiment uttered last week by Fox News host Tucker Carlson and others. Carlson has said that Afghan refugees resettled into the U.S. will worsen the country's crime rates, raise local rents and increase the number of Democratic voters.
Democratic President Joe Biden has faced widespread criticism for not prioritizing the evacuation of Afghan translators in the run-up to the August 31 withdrawal deadline for removing U.S. troops and allies from the region. The withdrawal marks the end of a 20-year U.S. presence in the region. The withdrawal also coincides with Islamic militant Taliban forces reclaiming control of the country.
Earlier this month, the Taliban said that Afghans who aided U.S. forces didn't need to fear for their lives.
"[Such Afghans] should show remorse for their past actions and must not engage in such activities in the future that amount to treason against Islam and the country," a Taliban statement read. The statement called for Afghans who assisted U.S. forces to "return to their normal lives" adding, " If they do have expertise in any field, [they should] serve their country. They shall not be in any danger on our part."
However, since 2014, the Taliban has murdered at least 300 Afghans who served as interpreters for U.S. forces, according to No One Left Behind, a veteran-led group for Afghan and Iraqi interpreters.
Democratic President Joe Biden has pledged to provide Special Immigration Visas to help relocate thousands of Afghan interpreters and translators. Some have since been relocated out of the country and are in an undisclosed location while the visa applications are processed for approval.
On August 16, Biden pledged up to $500 million from the U.S. United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund to assist refugees fleeing from Afghanistan.
The funds are for the "purpose of meeting unexpected urgent refugee and migration needs of refugees, victims of conflict, and other persons at risk as a result of the situation in Afghanistan," Biden's order said.
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment.
