Biden Secretary of State Pick Told Kids to Get Ready for Refugees in 2016 ‘Sesame Street’ Appearance

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Antony Blinken, Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of state, used a 2016 appearance with a “Sesame Street” character to urge American schoolchildren to welcome new refugees.

The video: Blinken, then the deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration, starred with Grover in a State Department-produced video to prepare American children for an influx of refugees.

  • Blinken promoted the clip on Twitter shortly after it was first released in September 2016, commenting: “This school year, some kids will have new classmates: refugees. @Grover & I discuss how to make them feel welcome in their new communities.”
  • The video resurfaced on social media on Monday after Blinken was among six establishment Democrats Biden nominated to key national security positions.

“Can you imagine how difficult it would be to have to leave your home?” Blinken asks Grover at one point in the three-minute sketch.

  • “All kinds of people are refugees. And even though they come from many different places, they’re just like you and me,” he says.
  • “We all have something to learn and gain from one another, even when it doesn’t seem at first like we have much in common.”

In 2016, President Barack Obama was pushing his goal of admitting 10,000 refugees from the Syria civil war, despite opposition from Republicans concerned about the security implications.

  • The United States ultimately accepted nearly 85,000 refugees in fiscal year 2016, including more than 12,000 Syrians, and Obama raised the 2017 ceiling to 110,000 before leaving office.
  • Donald Trump slashed Obama’s quota in half soon after becoming president and continued to reduce the limit every year as part of his hardline immigration regime, reaching a record low of 15,000 in 2021.
  • Biden — who brought Blinken into the Obama administration as his vice presidential national security adviser — has promised to raise refugee admissions to 125,000 as president.

The Blob is back: Biden’s initial Cabinet appointees have been widely cheered in the media as a return to normalcy after four years of Trump’s “America First” policies.

  • But some conservatives have derided what they see as a regression to the failed neoliberal personnel and policies of yesteryear.
  • “Blinken was wrong about Israel, the Palestinians, and the prospects of peace. He was wrong about Iraq. Wrong on Iran. Wrong on Syria. Wrong on Russia. Wrong on Libya. Wrong on China,” National Review’s David Harsanyi wrote on Monday.
  • “If you ever failed as much at your job, you wouldn’t have one. In Washington, you get to run the place.”
By We'll Do It Live