The rest of them have joined more than 200 communities in 46 states and the District of Columbia.
Over the weekend, the Biden administration moved all evacuees out of temporary housing facilities at military sites. This completed the first stage in a huge effort to resettle Afghans who had assisted American forces last summer or were otherwise considered to be in danger.
According to the internal State Department statistics which were not previously reported, Texas, California, and Virginia had received 10,494, 8,301, and 5,171 evacuations of Afghans as at February 22. These three states have strong refugee resettlement infrastructures and large Afghan American communities.
Washington, Pennsylvania, New York and Arizona all took in more than 2000 evacuees. Together, they resettled 11,721 Afghans. Maryland, Colorado and Illinois received at least 1,000 Afghan arrivals.
These 21 countries collectively welcomed 85% of the 67,380 Afghans processed at eight military housing facilities. All of them have been demobilized. This number does not include U.S citizens, green card holders, and Afghans with approved special immigrant visas. They were not required to be processed at military sites.
Eight states, including Alabama and Louisiana, received fewer that 100 evacuees form Afghanistan. South Dakota, Mississippi West Virginia, Hawaii and Hawaii all received fewer than 10 Afghan refugees. The total of 22 evacuees was shared between the four states. Washington, D.C. has been home to a dozen evacuees.
According to the State Department, Wyoming is the only state that doesn’t participate in the federal U.S. Refugee Program. It is unlikely to receive any Afghan families.
Houston received 5,117 evacuees. San Diego welcomed 2,350 Afghans. Other top destinations include Sacramento, Denver and Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago Glendale, California, Glendale, Chicago, Glendale and Alexandria, Virginia. All of these cities received more than 1,000 Afghans.
CBS News obtained the State Department numbers to show how many Afghans left military sites to relocate near one of 283 local offices that are affiliated with nine national resettlement agency. These offices are responsible for finding housing for evacuees as well as financing their initial expenses such food, rent, and other necessities.
Although refugees are required to live within 100 miles of a local resettlement agency, the U.S. exempted Afghan evacuees from this requirement last year due to the lack of housing in many areas. While resettlement officers found more permanent housing, some evacuees were temporarily moved to Airbnb and hotels.
A smaller number of Afghans who were evacuated have been resettled by private U.S. citizens than the resettlement groups. This was in response to a pilot program for private sponsorship that was launched by the Biden administration last autumn.
Matthew Soerens is the head of church mobilization for World Relief, one refugee resettlement agency. He said that many refugees have been relocated to Texas, California, and Virginia because of large Afghan-American communities there. This includes the Dallas-Fort Worth, Sacramento, and northern Virginia areas.
“We’ve always observed that when there are different groups of immigrants and refugees, there’s a natural, very rational tendency to want to resettle with the people you know,” Soerens stated. He also noted that many evacuees have relatives living in the U.S.
Soerens said that the placement of Afghan refugees was also influenced by the availability of resettlement offices, and other resources.
He said that the traditional refugee infrastructure is used to accomplish this. However, it does not cover all of the country. “Texas has been the most popular state for accepting Afghans, and California is the top state that receives the most refugees.”
The Afghan evacuee resettlement program has been supported by both the Democrats and Republicans, unlike other immigration programs. The poll shows that the majority of Americans support Afghans who have helped in the war effort.
This bipartisan backing has been combined with the efforts of veteran groups and churches in Afghanistan to help allies in Afghanistan have created a welcoming environment for evacuees in local communities, Soerens stated, noting that local offices have not reported any instances of backlash at resettlement destinations.
Five of the 10 states that have the highest number Afghan arrivals are represented by Republican governors. These include Arizona’s Doug Ducey, Maryland’s Larry Hogan and Maryland’s Larry Hogan. Both of these governors have publicly backed the resettlement efforts.
Some conservative Republicans in Congress have also accused the Biden Administration of not properly vetting Afghan evacuees prior to their arrival. Recently, pointed to a watchdog report that showed U.S. officials didn’t initially use one Department of Defense Database during the interagency screening process.
Biden’s administration denied the allegations of Republicans. They claimed that law enforcement and intelligence agencies examined biographical information and fingerprints of all evacuees in overseas locations to make sure they were not a national security or public safety threat to the U.S.
According to , a Department of Homeland Security Report, several hundred evacuees raised red flags during processing were denied entry. If they are convicted, evacuees can have their entry permits revoked in the U.S.
