President’s administration wants Congress to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act to facilitate transition of evacuees.
Months after the evacuation of Afghan refugees from their country, roughly 45,000 are still housed at military bases in the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security has reported 23,000 of the 73,000 refugees airlifted out of Afghanistan have been resettled by U.S. agencies. However, both the lack of affordable housing and the evacuees having no credit history have hampered efforts to move them from military facilities.
Colonel Curtis Velasquez, who oversees temporary housing at Holloman Air Force Base, stated, “We are this generation’s Ellis Island.” He added that the camp is “a safe haven where they can transition from that survival mode to a thriving mode.” The Afghan “humanitarian parolees,” as designated by the State Department, face an uncertain future due to backlogs in the visa and immigration system.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the president and State Department officials as they consider the future of Afghan refugees.
- For members of Congress as they consider the president’s legislation to assist resettlement.
- For the safety and wellbeing of the “humanitarian parolees” as they seek to move from temporary base housing.
- For the U.S. military men and women caring for the evacuees.
Sources: Stars and Stripes, NPR
