Former U.S. presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have formed a new group that will rally volunteers to help resettle Afghan refugees in the U.S. https://t.co/G7qJXUwUF3 pic.twitter.com/PrA7DOS0eG
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 15, 2021
The Biden administration is notifying states of how many Afghan evacuees they'll be asked resettle. California's projected to take more than 5,200 people out of the first group of nearly 37,000 who fled during the final days of the chaotic U.S. withdrawal. https://t.co/pbk5tXAsNe
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 15, 2021
… … The administration has requested funding from Congress to help resettle 65,000 Afghans in the United States by the end of this month and 95,000 by September 2022. President Joe Biden tapped the former governor of his home state of Delaware, Jack Markell, to temporarily serve as his point person on resettling Afghan evacuees in the United States.
States with a historically large number of Afghans who resettled in the U.S. over the last 20 years — including California, Maryland, Texas and Virginia — are again welcoming a disproportionate number of evacuees, according to the data. Many gravitate to northern Virginia, the Maryland suburbs of D.C. and northern California — some of the most expensive housing markets in the country.
Oklahoma, which over the course of the 20-year war had resettled a relatively small number of Afghans, is slated to resettle 1,800 new arrivals…
Many of the new evacuees requested to be resettled in those states because they already have family and close friends living in those states, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the calls to state government officials. Resettlement agencies also have a large presence and capacity in many of those states.
The State Department resettled evacuees based on the advice of local affiliates of nine national resettlement agencies the U.S. government is working with, the officials said…
Another Biden admin choice for this important, thankless task:
Honoring America’s Promise Open Thread: Welcoming Afghan Refugees (Or Not)Post + Comments (134)