From Reuters:
“From mattresses to halal
food, U.S. refugee groups race to aid arriving Afghans”
When U.S. Marine Corps veteran
Luis Gonzales loads up donated supplies for newly arrived Afghan families in
Houston, he can usually fit everything into his truck and make the delivery in
a single trip. But his routine changed a few weeks ago as the United States
began its hurried withdrawal from Afghanistan. While the U.S. government has
not said how many Afghans have been evacuated to the United States, refugee
groups say thousands have arrived across the country, with more expected. Gonzales,
31, and other veterans are delivering mattresses, televisions, laptops and
American flags to a growing number of families on short notice. They also
provide gift certificates to a local market with halal food made according to
Muslim dietary standards.
Refugee resettlement agencies and
veterans groups are scrambling to help the arriving Afghans as tens of
thousands flee their homeland in a massive airlift by the United States and
other Western nations. One particular focus is evacuating Afghans who applied
for the U.S. Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, which is available to those
who assisted U.S. forces during the two-decade war in the South Asian nation. Advocates
estimate 80,000 Afghan SIVs and their family members will need to be evacuated,
as well as other refugees. A White House official said on Tuesday the United
States had evacuated more than 82,000 people since Aug. 14, a figure that
includes Afghans, U.S. citizens and foreign nationals. This week, Gonzales expects
to visit seven families who recently entered the United States through the SIV
program. While SIV applicants are not required to participate in the U.S.
resettlement program, most use those resources to adjust to American life.
Resettlement groups typically
have at least two weeks to make preparations for arriving refugees, including
renting and furnishing apartments and stocking fridges with groceries, but that
timeline has been abbreviated to days or even hours amid the chaos of the U.S.
evacuation in Kabul. Gonzales was deployed to Helmand province in southern
Afghanistan in 2010. He now volunteers with the Houston-based veterans
organization Combined Arms in part because he felt an obligation to stand up
for Afghans who aided the U.S. military. "After serving together, we're
basically family now. We feel for them, we want to do more," he said. Texas
is one of the top destination states for SIV holders, second only to
California, according to U.S. Department of State data. Roughly 78,000 Afghans
have been granted visas under the SIV program since 2008.
TRUMP CUTS Cuts to the
U.S. refugee program under former President Donald Trump have made it harder to
help the arriving Afghans, say some resettlement groups. These organizations
were forced to cut staff and close offices as funding dried up. President Joe
Biden, a Democrat, raised refugee levels this year, but some agencies are still
recovering. Many of the Afghans with SIVs go to Texas upon arrival in
the United States, but a higher proportion have been steered there in recent
days as resettlement agencies in California and Virginia have struggled to
quickly find housing for them, according to Garrett Pearson, director at World
Relief North Texas, which assists refugees. Since the U.S. evacuation
started in mid-August, 35 Afghan families have arrived in the Fort Worth area
through the group's program, with another 20 set for this week, he said.
Afghans are also heading to Austin, Dallas and other cities. Kerry Spare
of YMCA International Services in Houston said her organization has helped
provide housing for about 40 Afghans in the past two weeks and expects more to
come in September. She said they are arriving with less than a day's
notice, even when flights are arranged by the United Nations. "They're
giving us no time to prepare." Spare said that YMCA had the
resources in place to deal with the August arrivals, but would be tested if
numbers increased.
LITTLE TIME TO PREPARE Refugee
Services of Texas, the state's largest resettlement agency, received 312 Afghan
SIV holders and their families between Aug. 1 and Aug. 23. Sometimes, they have
been given as little as five hours' notice, said Ashley Faye, the group's
development director. "That doesn’t give us time to get an
apartment, so it’s really just emergency housing right now," she said. Her
organization is asking for hotel vouchers and people willing to let Afghans
stay in empty Airbnb (ABNB.O) rental units, she said. It is also soliciting
cash donations and posting Amazon (AMZN.O) wishlists for arriving families. Groups
in Texas say there has been a robust response. "We have just seen
an outcry of support," said Pearson, noting that religious groups are
stepping up. While the effort to evacuate Afghan SIVs has strong
bipartisan backing, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, has opposed
refugee resettlement in the past. Abbott's office did not respond to a request
for comment. Cress Clippard, another veteran volunteer with Combined
Arms, said bringing Afghans who aided the U.S. government to Houston has not
been controversial, noting that many Afghan interpreters and translators find
resettlement easier because they speak English. "Everyone likes the idea
of people that fought for us getting a chance to become Americans," he
said.
^ Right now these Charities and
Groups are working hard to help the Afghani Refugees with no notice. It is an
enormous task that needs everyone’s help to complete. ^
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