Tucker Carlson on Monday told Fox News viewers that the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan would be used to bring “millions” of refugees to the U.S., which he described as an invasion.
“If history is any guide, and it’s always a guide, we will see many refugees from Afghanistan resettle in our country in the coming months, probably in your neighborhood,” the star personality said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” “And over the next decade, that number may swell to the millions.”
“So first we invade, and then we are invaded. It is always the same.”
It’s a predictable angle from Carlson, who routinely offers racist takes on immigration and has repeatedly echoed key aspects of the white nationalist “great replacement” doctrine on his show.
That conspiracy theory holds that white people are intentionally being replaced with immigrants. Carlson told viewers earlier this year that Democrats are “trying to replace the current electorate of voters” with “more obedient voters from the Third World” and repeated that rhetoric last week.
Prominent Republicans and Democrats alike have called on the U.S. to urgently accept Afghan citizens at risk of Taliban retaliation. Carlson criticized lawmakers on both sides for doing so.
“The people who made the Afghan occupation possible would like to see a lot more of our southern border, much more unrestrained immigration to the U.S. ‘Bring in the refugees!’ they’re screaming,” he said.
Following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul and other major Afghan cities, the U.S. has rushed to evacuate vulnerable residents such as interpreters, journalists and NGO workers who could be targeted under Taliban rule, likely to strip many basic human and democratic rights, particularly those of women.
Photos show thousands of refugees desperately trying to flee the country. In one video, people clung to the outside of a U.S. military transport plane during takeoff, reportedly leaving at least seven people dead in the chaos.
The Pentagon has announced it will house up to 22,000 Afghan evacuees in military facilities. The Biden administration had already moved 2,000 Afghans who were eligible for special immigration visas, though the president has been criticized for not evacuating more people sooner.