U.S. empties camp sites

Afghan evacuees ponder future as U.S. empties camp sites

More than 29,000 Afghans remain on U.S. military bases thanks, in part, to a shortage of affordable housing and the pandemic.

By NAHAL TOOSI

For nearly four months, Siddiq, his wife and baby boy have been living on a military base in the United States, like tens of thousands of other people evacuated from Afghanistan last summer.

To get to this point, they waited years for a Special Immigrant Visa that never came through, negotiated their way through Taliban checkpoints as the militants took over Afghanistan in August, and still had to leave family behind. They are relieved to have made it this far and eager to start their new lives, but they’re also frustrated about how long it’s taking for American officials to help them resettle in a U.S. community.

It doesn’t help that they’re at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, where the weather is less than ideal this time of year.

“It’s really cold. You cannot go outside to walk,” said Siddiq, who sent along photos of himself with U.S. troops for whom he translated in Afghanistan. “It’s really boring here. There is nothing to do. They give English classes, but I know English.”

In a sense, Siddiq, whose last name is being withheld to protect relatives still in Afghanistan, is one of the less lucky Afghans who’ve reached U.S. shores. Already, more than half of those arrivals — some 44,000 people, as of Thursday — have begun lives outside military bases, albeit facing the challenges that come with that relocation. Nearly 29,000 Afghans remain on seven military bases in the United States, and around 2,900 Afghans are still overseas at a handful of U.S. military posts, waiting for a flight to America.

The resettlement process has been slowed down by difficulties ranging from a measles outbreak among evacuees to a shortage of affordable housing in U.S. towns — the latter being one reason Siddiq has been told he and his family still are at Fort McCoy. The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t helped. And the vetting of Afghans for security risks is taking longer in some cases for a variety of reasons, such as missing paperwork.

Still, considering the chaos of the initial evacuation in August — when desperate Afghans fell to their deaths from planes leaving Kabul and numerous potential evacuees were left behind — U.S. officials and refugee advocates are praising the resettlement effort so far.

Operation Allies Welcome is the biggest such U.S. resettlement effort in decades, and it had to be pulled off far more quickly than most anyone expected because of the Taliban’s stunningly rapid takeover of Afghanistan, with virtually all major cities falling in 11 days. The U.S. is on pace to shut down the camp operations on domestic military bases by mid-February. One such operation already has ended, but seven more are still underway.

“How is the process going? I think miraculously well given the cards we were dealt,” said John Slocum, interim executive director of Refugee Council USA, an organization assisting in the resettlement effort. “We’ve been basically building a giant plane as we fly it.”

In the grander scheme, however, the job of helping vulnerable Afghans is far from over.

Thousands of Afghans who have fled the war-torn nation in the months since the August airlift ended are applying through various programs for a shot at life in the United States. Some are in places like Pakistan, and they may have direct or indirect links to America, whether through family or companies or government bodies they served during the 20 years the United States fought in Afghanistan.

U.S. officials also are still arranging flights for eligible Afghans who remain inside Afghanistan, a painstaking and slow process that is expected to last for years — if the country’s Taliban rulers continue to cooperate. So far, the Islamist militia has not imposed major roadblocks for people wanting to leave, U.S. officials say.

Nonetheless, “it is not easy, and there are challenges with each step and flight,” said a U.S. official familiar with the ongoing evacuation effort. “The number of people applying for the different immigrant categories grows each day.”

Some estimates for the number of Afghans potentially eligible for relocation to the United States run into the hundreds of thousands.

The tens of thousands of Afghans who have reached the United States did so following four years in which the Trump administration tried to essentially end the U.S. refugee resettlement program.

U.S. government divisions and public-private partnerships that had for decades helped resettle people like the fleeing Afghans had been decimated. Under Trump, NGOs that helped resettle refugees were forced to shut down offices, shed employees and let go of relationships with landlords who provided housing options for newly arrived refugees.

President Joe Biden promised to once again welcome refugees to the United States, and by early 2021 those same organizations had begun to slowly rebuild. But the unexpected, massive Afghan evacuation in August turbo-charged that reconstruction effort, even as it initially taxed existing staffers and resources.

The events of August have prompted an infusion of more than $6 billion in federal dollars into the resettlement effort. There’s also been a jump in private giving and volunteers, as well as offers of assistance from companies like Airbnb to the U.S. groups who help refugees resettle.

Those organizations have managed to open dozens of new offices to help deal with the Afghan population, infrastructure they hope to use in the coming years as the traditional U.S. refugee program — which accepts a limited number of people every year from all over the world — returns to its pre-Trump state.

On Thursday, the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service — one of the resettlement organizations that works with the federal government — launched a new office at Peace Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Virginia.

Dozens of people celebrated the opening of the office, which will aid newcomers in dealing with everything from finding jobs to enrolling in school. LIRS has hired some of the recent Afghan arrivals to help manage cases.

The Alexandria office is one of 13 new sites LIRS has launched after having to shut down 17 due to the Trump years, said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and chief executive of LIRS.

“We’re not done; every week, every month, we’re adding new community partners and signing up new volunteers,” she said.

Many of the Afghans now resettling in the United States are not considered refugees in the legal sense, which is why the term “evacuee” is often used. Regardless, organizations like LIRS are helping the evacuees because of their experience and know-how with resettling refugees, who also are fleeing similar situations and often starting anew in America with few resources.

The Afghan-American community as well as other majority Muslim diaspora communities have stepped up with donations and offers of cultural assistance. No matter how much aid they get, however, the Afghans new to the United States are often startled by the hurdles they’re encountering.

There are businesses that don’t take cash, for instance, but the Afghans seeking the services may not have set up bank accounts yet. Many of the Afghans know English — and nearly half are children, so are likely to pick it up quickly — but others are struggling with the language. Enrolling children in school when the pandemic has wildly affected school schedules for everyone is another challenge. Even the shortage of affordable housing is surprising to people like Siddiq.

“America is a big country!” he points out in disbelief.

There’s also lingering uncertainty about how long many of the evacuees will be able to stay in the United States. Many have been permitted on U.S. soil under what’s known as the humanitarian parole program.

Congress has approved legislation that would make the parolees eligible for benefits similar to those given to refugees, whose arrival in America usually comes after many months or years of security and other vetting.

However, the humanitarian parole status lasts for only two years. While some of the Afghans may qualify for longer lasting programs, such as Special Immigrant Visas given to Afghans who translated for the U.S. military or are otherwise eligible, others may find themselves having to seek asylum or in limbo.

Refugee advocates are urging U.S. lawmakers to grant a more permanent status to Afghan parolees. The Biden administration has expressed support for legislation that leads to that.

“We will continue to welcome additional qualifying Afghans over the coming weeks, months, and years to support those who stood with us over our two decades in Afghanistan,” a senior Biden administration official said in a statement.

The refugee advocates are especially uneasy about shifting Afghans to the U.S. asylum system. The bar for evidence and admission to that program is often so high that many people who are genuinely in danger cannot meet it.

It may be impossible, for example, for Afghans to provide documents demanded by asylum judges if those materials are back in Afghanistan and under the control of the Taliban government.

Ali, an Afghan who managed to get out of the country in August and is now living in Virginia on parole status, is among those likely to apply for asylum if no other route opens up.

Ali, who asked that his real name not be used to protect relatives still in Afghanistan, said he isn’t sure what his future holds, but he wants for it to be in America.

He may try seeking work as an educator.

“I felt like I’m secure now, I’m in a peaceful place,” he said. “There’s no fear of kidnapping, assassination.”