Last of Afghan evacuees leave U.S. military bases amid report of botched background checks:
The last of the 76,000 Afghan evacuees pulled out of the country last summer have finally been released into the U.S., the government announced over the weekend — just as a report said not all were fully vetted.
The Pentagon’s inspector general said some secretive Defense Department databases weren’t initially available to screeners. As a result, dozens of people with “significant security concerns” reached the U.S.
Officials had no idea where most of them were, the inspector general said in an audit late last week.
“Not being able to locate Afghan evacuees with derogatory information quickly and accurately could pose a security risk to the United States,” the inspector general concluded.
It has been nearly six months since the conclusion of the Afghanistan airlift, capping off a chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops after a 20-year war.
The Biden administration brought more than 76,000 Afghan evacuees out of their home country, sent them through transit points for initial screenings and then brought them to refugee camps at eight military bases on U.S. soil.
The final two camps emptied out last week, and the Afghans were settling in communities across America, the Department of Homeland Security said Saturday.
It marked the largest surge of migrant resettlement in a half-century, the State Department said. --->READ MORE HERE
DHS has now released all 76,000 Afghan evacuees from military bases into U.S.:
Homeland Security announced the departure of the last Afghan evacuees from military bases on U.S. soil Saturday, saying 76,000 of them have been processed and released into American communities.
A base in New Jersey became the last to shut down its migrant camp, ending a critical period in the evacuation efforts just a week shy of the six-month mark of the end of the chaotic airlift that accompanied the end of U.S. operations in Afghanistan.
Officials are now looking to set up a new location to handle future Afghans who are able to make it out of their home country and who are deemed to be eligible for resettlement in the U.S., but for now, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey will take any newcomers that do emerge from the struggling country.
The airlift and housing here in the U.S.; was dubbed Operation Allies Welcome, and was billed as a chance to help Afghans who risked their lives to assist the 20-year U.S. war effort and are in line for the Special Immigrant Visa. In reality, most of those airlifted out do not appear to qualify for the special visa, but had other ties to the U.S., or were simply in a better position to reach the airport in Kabul amid the Taliban takeover in August.
They were brought to third countries and given a once-over by American officials before being airlifted to migrant camps in eight military bases across the U.S. --->READ MORE HERE
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