Jack Markell, who is responsible for settling 55,600 Afghan refugees into U.S. military bases in communities across the country, said CNN Saturday he will be enlisting veterans with ties to refugees to help them find permanent homes.
“This is just an amazing opportunity to, frankly, do what our veterans have been asking us to do, which is provide a safe and dignified welcome to Afghans who served by our side in Afghanistan, and who now want to build their own lives here,” the former Democratic Governor of Delaware said.
Markell stated that the Biden Administration was trying to “increase opportunities” for thousands of Afghan refugees who fled war-torn Afghanistan during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal in August.
All those evacuated, including Afghans who fought for the United States in the two-decade war of aggression, were staying at U.S. military bases. But now they need to find permanent homes.
“We’ve been there. We understand what it’s like to come from that experience and then find yourself dropped into this environment and how quite frankly overwhelming that it can be,” Matt Zeller, a security fellow at the Truman National Security Project, and Afghan veteran, told CNN.
“The make-or-break factor between endemic poverty and making it in America is whether or not you have a veteran assisting you. And the earlier that occurs in the process, the more successful (it is).”
Zeller said to the news outlet that he would allow an interpreter who he had spoken with in Kabul into his house to assist him in getting settled.
“He calls me his guardian angel,” Zeller said, adding he’d be willing to house the interpreter and his family. “I just want to hug him.”
CNN reports that some refugee resettlement offices were closed by former President Donald Trump because there were not enough people entering the country to use the system.
With thousands of Afghan refugees waiting to begin the next chapter in their lives, it is time for the system to get back on track.
“We just didn’t have the capacity after the beating we took under the Trump administration,” said Mark Hetfield, the president and CEO of HIAS, a refugee resettlement agency.
“Necessity is the mother of invention. This is the outcome of that.”
CNN’s Markell said that he doesn’t know how long it will take to evacuate the refugees from the military bases and place them in permanent housing.
“The housing issue is a challenging one for sure. Every American knows that housing is expensive and in short supply,” Markell told CNN. “We have been very fortunate that a number of organizations, like Airbnb, have stepped up. And these sponsorship circles, because they’re so rooted in their communities, will have the advantage of knowing those communities and finding additional housing opportunities.”
