The Department of Homeland Security and NGOs wave goodbye as the last bus carrying Afghan refugees on board departs Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey on February 19.
Greg L. Davis / AP / DHS
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Greg L. Davis / AP / DHS
The Department of Homeland Security and NGOs wave goodbye as the last bus carrying Afghan refugees on board departs Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey on February 19.
Greg L. Davis / AP / DHS
In the past six months, Feraidon Hakimi has had three different homes.
After fleeing his homeland of Afghanistan last August, the 22-year-old arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport and was transferred to Fort Pickett military base in Blackstone, Va. Four months later, he moved into a house in Maryland. But his journey in America is still just beginning.
“Here, I’m alone, I don’t have anyone to support me financially,” Hakimi said.
The last groups of Afghan refugees living on US military bases have left this month, but refugee agencies say the refugees still face huge challenges in the next step of resettlement.
On February 19, the Department of Homeland Security announced that all Afghans temporarily residing at US military bases have been “resettled” to communities across the country. The last base once inhabited by Afghans, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, will remain partially open to welcome incoming Afghan refugees as part of Operation Welcome Allied of the DHS.
DHS says about 84,600 Afghan nationals, US citizens and lawful permanent residents have come to the US as part of the program. Welcome active allieswas established after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August 2021. More than 76,000 Afghan nationals have now traveled to communities across the country, DHS said.
“It’s an important milestone… but I want to emphasize that the task is not over yet. Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugees Services, told NPR. This nonprofit organization has helped resettle refugees and immigrants to the United States for more than 80 years. many years.
Affordable housing remains a top concern for refugee resettlement
Vignarajah says challenges still lie ahead for both refugees leaving military bases and resettlement agencies like hers. working to help them. For example, finding affordable housing remains a major challenge, especially in areas where Afghans prefer to live like California and Northern Virginia.
“It’s been a complicated process trying to find affordable, suitable housing, when ‘reasonable apartments start to come in,'” says Vignarajah. Lack of housing supply is rent increase nationwide.
Laura Thompson Osuri, executive director of the nonprofit Homes Not Borders, said government support to help refugees find more permanent housing is still lacking. Homes Not Borders helps refugees and asylum seekers in the Washington, DC, area with furniture and household items, and helps them find work.
“The US wants them to leave the base because it’s too expensive to stay in the base, but now they’re all staying in hotels, a lot of them are still staying in hotels, a lot of them are not in permanent residences,” Osuri said. determined”. “Placing them in hotels is even more expensive and scattered.”
NPR has contacted DHS about the cost of the resettlement efforts and has been referred to the State Department. The State Department did not immediately respond to comment.
Osuri adds that the lack of affordable housing in the DC area has made it “impossible” for refugee families to find permanent housing in the area.
“It was a nightmare,” she said. “It’s frustrating to see.”
Job search is also a big stress
For Hakimi of Maryland, housing is not his biggest concern, he said. After leaving the military base in Virginia in December, Hakimi spent two days in a hotel and was later moved to more permanent housing in Maryland.
“The housing process has been very good to me,” says Hakimi. But now, his biggest challenge is trying to get a job.
“My family is not here, so here I start from scratch,” he said. “I’m not complaining. This is just my situation.”
In Afghanistan, Hakimi studied journalism and public relations. Now that he is in the US, his friends are advising him to change his career path, because he needs to be more fluent in English to get a job in PR and gain more experience. experience. He is also trying to figure out if he should go back to school in the US and how he will pay for the degree.
The resettlement agency that helps Hakimi will provide housing for him for three months. He is counting the days he has left before he starts paying rent and supporting himself.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to do,” he said. “I have no support.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine causes organizations to prepare for more refugees
While organizations like the Lutheran Immigration and Refugees Authority are still providing aid to Afghan refugees, they are already preparing for another potential wave of refugees from Ukraine.
“The refugee resettlement system is exactly how we protect vulnerable populations, whether they come from Afghanistan or Ukraine,” Vignarajah said in a statement on Thursday.
“The United States and its allies must prepare for the very real possibility of a mass exodus of Ukrainian refugees. Protecting displaced persons cannot be just an afterthought.” she said.
US officials have guess that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could create between one million and five million refugees.
