US-Afghan resettlement slowed by housing shortage, outdated technology

According to Defense Department officials and volunteers involved in the operation, the goal was originally to resettle the displaced by the end of the year, if not sooner. But earlier this month officials began telling volunteer groups they would be needed until March or longer. “We have no way out of Christmas,” said a defense official.

More than 50,000 Afghans are temporarily housed at eight military bases across the country, awaiting resettlement in permanent homes. Their slower-than-expected release means they will have to live in cramped barracks for months where supplies are often stretched. Cases of domestic violence have also been reported in some Afghan refugee communities. A DHS spokesman said the Department of Homeland Security, which is overseeing the rehabilitation program, recently sent personnel to address such cases.

The Biden administration has not publicized a timeline for the resettlement program, dubbed Operation Alliance Welcome, but the delay in moving the first wave of evacuations from US bases will have a ripple effect: the roughly 10,000 evacuations now from US military installations. living on. remains, those who have landed elsewhere are prepared to wait still longer.

“Even though we are very good at welcoming refugees into the country, we don’t usually do it at this pace,” said a senior administration official.

About 6,000 Afghans have so far been resettled in local communities, and administration officials and resettlement groups said the pace is building. A DHS spokesman said the federal government was prioritizing resettlement of at-risk populations, such as those who were domestic abusers.

As Afghans arrived in the US, they are not legally classified as refugees – another reason resettlement organizations were reluctant to take on so many cases quickly. Congress in its bill late last month allocated $6.3 billion to the resettlement effort, averting a government shutdown, cash aid to help Afghans pay for several months of health care and rent, food and English classes. given the right.

Unlike traditional refugees, who apply and are processed through regular government programs, Afghans also have no guaranteed immigration status until Congress passes a White House-proposed law to issue them green cards. Is. Otherwise, many people will need to file for asylum, which already has a backlog system that will take significant legal aid to navigate.

A series of problems, rather than a single issue, have slowed processing times for Afghan evacuations. The measles outbreak prompted officials at military bases to launch a massive vaccination campaign, giving refugees a full course of shots for Covid-19, measles and polio – an effort that slowed resettlement for weeks .

Relocation agencies that contract with the State Department to help Afghans say finding off-base housing is a major challenge. A nationwide housing shortage, coupled with rising rents, has made it difficult for landlords to take on potential tenants with no current income or credit scores.

Agencies are even more limited in where they can look for accommodation. People receiving services must live within a hundred miles of a resettlement office, which are run by independent organizations working closely with the federal government. The Trump administration significantly slashed the refugee program, closing nearly a third of the current 340 offices nationwide. If the displaced move with a family member or friend, they sometimes run the risk of missing out on resettlement benefits offered by the government.

“In some places where there are large-scale Afghan communities, such as in California and northern Virginia, they are particularly expensive,” said Melanie Nezer, senior vice president for public affairs at HIAS, one of the resettlement agencies. Another challenge rehabilitation groups face is simply the “huge numbers of people coming in at once”, she said. “Usually refugees arrive in slow periods.”

Bureaucratic constraints are also a factor. The State Department reactivated an old database system, called Hummingbird, that staff at bases would enter Afghans to match them with resettlement slots. But according to officials familiar with the process, admission was done using paper forms, and the information was later entered manually into the database. “There is a high rate of human error,” said one of the officers.

A State Department spokesman said the system is no longer manual.

Once they are matched, the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency that coordinates the movement of refugees and migrants, is charged with booking travel from bases to Afghans’ final destinations. But the organization lacks staff in the US, people familiar with the matter said, and in some cases it has booked flights for Afghans but failed to inform resettlement agencies that people were on their way. The IOM sent a request to the State Department for comment on its role.

Sahar Mohammad, a former translator of the US military in Afghanistan, fled Kabul with his wife and five children three days after the Taliban captured the city. They went to Abu Dhabi, where they stayed for two weeks before arriving at Fort Dix, a military base in New Jersey.

Conditions at the base were difficult at first, Mr. Mohamed said. The tent he was staying in did not have doors or soundproof dividers between the families, and his family had trouble sleeping with the noise. He said the tent has since been upgraded, and his family now has a cleaner, more private room.

Clothing has also been a challenge. Each member of his family was allowed to bring a small bag during the flight from Afghanistan, and each packed two sets of summer clothing. But the weather has turned cold in New Jersey and the military has yet to bring them more seasonally appropriate clothing, he said.

“I don’t want to complain because we’re in America, and they’re doing their best,” he said. “But it’s hard. We can’t start our lives or send our kids to school. We feel like we’re not free.”

Mr. Mohamed said he wanted to move to northern Virginia, where he knew friends and other former employees of an American contractor he worked for after leaving his military job. But he is warned that if he leaves the base he may not be able to get rehabilitation services that can help him find a home and assist with rent.