Last Updated on September 27, 2021
During an interview in late August, amidst Democrat President Joe Biden’s botched military withdrawal from Afganistan that resulted in a refugee crisis, Black Rifle Coffee CEO Evan Hafer defended his company’s proclivity for hiring Afghan refugees and State Department and CIA employees, despite the fact that such practices conflict with the conservative audience the coffee is marketed towards.
“I’ve been able to hire a few here at Black Rifle over the course of several years,” Hafer said during an interview with neoconservative publication National Review. “I’ve been working with them to not only receive citizenship, but make sure that they’re moving through the refugee process correctly, providing English lessons, housing, insurance, vehicles and things like that.”
Hafer expressed concern that the refugees could be “marginalized within the entire government infrastructure” by the Taliban, and claimed that “regardless of political rhetoric, it is an ethical obligation to protect the people who have protected our people for 20 years.”
“These guys are putting their asses on the line with the expectation that if they do that, they will probably receive at least a refugee or an ask or an invite; that their visas will be processed so they can come to the United States,” Hafer said, adding that “If they’re working for the state department or the CIA, they have security clearances, which means they’ve already had a background check — a background check that is much higher than that of 99.9% of civilians in the United States.”
Black Rifle Coffee drew criticism in November 2020 for publicly condemning Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who shot three men seen on video chasing him during the Kenosha BLM riots.
While it is unclear exactly why Black Rifle Coffee repeatedly takes actions that alienate its predominantly conservative consumer base, the CEO of Covfefe Coffee has posited that “It kind of seems like it’s all coordinated… They are doubling down on reimagining their company, they’re reworking their entire brand. They’re trying to be more inclusive.”
Law enforcement agencies are currently investigating reports of a sexual assault on female U.S. military servicemember at Fort Bliss by multiple Afghan refugees.
