See below for reactions from Virginia members of Congress to the Trump administration’s “incompetence” in stranding up to 1 million Americans in the Middle East, with the “Administration’s clumsiness and incompetence…putting American lives at risk.” First, here’s Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10)
“Obviously, we’ll be talking about the Iran war this week, but something that’s not getting enough attention right now is the 300,000 US citizens in the region right now who are stranded because we sent all this firepower to the region and if we’re going to attack Iran, why didn’t we have a plan to get American citizens out of the region? Someone just asked President Trump that question, and here’s what he said – “well, because it happened all very quickly, I thought maybe more so than most; I could ask Marco, but I thought we were going to have a situation where we were going to be attacked. They were going to attack Iran.’ I don’t even know what that means. But what I think is that with all that military firepower in the region, we could have given them a little bit of warning or at least more than just what we gave them. And instead, only now are they being told to evacuate the region. With one caveat, though, you’re on your own because there’s barely any commercial flights going in and out of the region. While hotels are being attacked and everything appears to be a target, this administration is not doing enough to help. We should have seen this coming. So why aren’t we valuing American lives more in the region? The administration is just telling them tough luck. This should be a national priority. And if we’re going to spend billions on jets and bombs, we can afford to evacuate Americans. We need to get serious right now protecting Americans in the Middle East. “
Next, here’s a statement from Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08)’s office:
Trump Administration Incompetence Strands Americans Abroad
March 3, 2026 (Washington, D.C.) – Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), who previously served in the State Department as a U.S. Ambassador, today issued the following statement after Americans were instructed by the State Department to evacuate from a list of countries comprising nearly the entire Middle East:
“Today I have heard from constituents who are in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, the U.A.E., and Qatar or have family there and are frantically trying to get to safety. The State Department is instructing the approximately one million Americans in the Middle East to evacuate, but flights across the region are cancelled, airspaces are closed, and airports and consulates are shuttered or under attack. Americans stranded abroad are being told their embassies cannot help them.
“This Administration’s clumsiness and incompetence is putting American lives at risk. The President chose when to start a war with Iran, and has been deploying military assets there for over a month. Four days into this war of choice, the Administration is scrambling to help people caught in a situation they’ve long known was coming. The Administration had ample time to encourage people to leave the region, to reduce the presence of non-essential personnel at our consulates and diplomatic posts, and secure our embassies.
“Today it is clear that this Administration failed to adequately protect Americans abroad. The White House says they are ‘working on plans’ that the President himself admits they did not make in advance. We are told this as the Secretary of State claims on Capitol Hill that the war was necessary to protect American personnel overseas, something he and the President manifestly failed to do.
“The Trump Administration’s failure to plan ahead – itself reminiscent of when this Administration stranded fired USAID workers and contractors overseas after abruptly firing them – is also being made worse by the mass purges at the State Department and the Administration’s vacancies in key ambassadorial positions. The Administration must immediately do everything possible to get our people home, and Congress must investigate this shocking failure of leadership that needlessly put American lives in danger.”
###
Well said by both Representatives Subramanyam and Beyer. I’ll add more statements if/when I see them. Meanwhile, good luck to all the Americans abroad who are being harmed by the Trump administration’s lack of planning, irresponsibility, callousness, idiocy, incompetence, etc.
