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Amid his third run for Senate in the Buckeye State, Mandel, 43, has spoken against allowing displaced Afghanis into the country and providing them assistance following the U.S.' withdrawal from Afghanistan. The grandson of Holocaust survivors who escaped to the U.S., Mandel’s Senate campaign described it as “degrading” to liken the genocide to evacuations from Afghanistan today.
On Sept. 3, the politician compared refugees to alligators on Twitter,writing"To all those journalists out there cheering on the welcoming of Afghan ‘refugees’: You can keep feeding the alligators, but eventually you will be eaten as well."
Two days later, hetweetedthat the refuges could bring “child brides” or “COVID” into America, lateraddingthat “zero ‘refugees’ " should be welcomed in.
Josh Mandel.Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call
The records retrieved show Mandel’s grandparents to be of the thousands who were assisted through Ohio’s refugee service department.
Mandel’s political campaign told CNN that the former state treasurer is well aware of his family history, calling it “degrading” to compare Holocaust refugees to the refugees entering the U.S. today.
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“It is complete nonsense and degrading to Holocaust victims to compare them to today’s unvetted masses who are trying to invade our country from radical Islamic nations. While Nazis weren’t embedded with Jews fleeing Europe, Islamic terrorists and grown men married to child brides are embedded today,” spokesperson Jillian Anderson said. “These are two completely different situations and the comparison is grotesque and disrespectful to the memory of Holocaust survivors.”
Representatives for Mandel did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment Wednesday.
According to theU.N. High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR), nearly 400,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Afghanistan since the start of the year, joining the 2.9 million who had already been displaced across Afghanistan since the end of 2020.
Accordingto the State Department, more than 23,000 refugees have arrived in the country since the U.S. began large-scale evacuations from Afghanistan in August before ending the war there after 20 years.
Earlier this month, a group of former presidents and first ladies —George W. BushandLaura Bush,Bill ClintonandHillary ClintonandBarack ObamaandMichelle Obama— launched a national initiative calledWelcome.USin order to support the refugees relocating stateside.
Senior Airman Taylor Crul/AP/Shutterstock
Afghans who have applied for, but not yet received, a visa, and those seeking asylum in the U.S., will first head to a transit hub in Europe or Asia. There, they will undergo what the White House called “robust security processing” before moving forward to the U.S.
To prepare for their arrival, the U.S. has undertaken a range of safety and health precautions and will require that all those who enter the U.S. (including citizens, Special Immigrant Visa applicants and Afghan nationals) be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival.
source: people.com
