Leesburg, Virginia — Makeshift clothing store with traditional Afghan clothing and American clothing are mixed. An Afghan boy dressed in jackets, socks, underwear, etc. He had a bright smile as he picked out his boots for his first outdoors.
Recreation In his room, children play his table hockey, take turns throwing his soccer ball in the air, and foosball rages with Afghan music playing in the background. I played a game of An Afghan boy ran around with a soccer ball, showing off his skills to news photographers who chased him across the room.
In a large dining area that seats 800 people, Afghan adults and families with minor children can enjoy Afghan staples such as kidney bean stew known as rubia and naan, as well as halal meals. We enjoyed his version of American food. Classics such as turkey hot dogs with beef chili.
Children sat side by side drawing in an arts and crafts room decorated with dozens of drawings and drawings. Some painted animals, their favorite soccer team, and the flag of Afghanistan. The paintings and paintings placed throughout the facility, including the American flag, expressed gratitude to the host country.
"Thank you to the United States of America," read a child's drawing of an American flag.
When a small group of journalists toured the scene on Thursday, the National Conference Center in Northern Virginia was lined with police for the election. It housed 657 Afghan refugees selected by US resettlements, including 216 children, according to data provided by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official who oversees the facility.
A large hotel-like suburban complex that normally hosts corporate and government events was converted by the U.S. government earlier this year into short-term refugee housing and housing for fleeing Afghans. It became the only domestic processing plant. Afghanistan under Taliban rule.
Last year, the Biden administration evacuated and resettled more than 70,000 Afghans and established overseas military bases and processing hubs on the mainland. , evacuees underwent safety inspections, vaccinations, medical examinations, immigration duties. The last processing site at a military base in the country closed in his February
since then the National Conference Center, which can accommodate up to 1,000 people, has been closed. became the sole processing site. Destination of Afghans arriving in the United States under parole authority. This will allow authorities to expedite the entry of migrants who have not yet completed the visa or refugee process for humanitarian reasons.
Since its construction, the Virginia complex has hosted approximately 4,300 Afghans, most of whom are new arrivals with access to housing, government benefits, jobs, and basic necessities. reportedly resettled by a non-governmental organization charged with helping to secure to DHS stats.
On average, conference centers receive hundreds of evacuees on one flight each week. Thousands of displaced Afghans, usually refugees from Qatar or the United Arab Emirates, have been stranded for monthsand his DHS official Kenneth Graf said. The final flight is set for him to arrive at the end of September, when congressional funding for the site expires, he added, Graf.
John Rafferty, senior DHS officer, leads a team tasked with facilitating the resettlement of displaced persons from Afghanistan. said the US was scaling back its measures. He said parole would be used to admit Afghan refugees, but other legal immigration routes, such as refugee programs, would remain available to Afghans.
"The government's commitment to Afghan allies extends beyond today and into the weeks and months to come," Rafferty told reporters on Thursday. "It will continue for years to come as we try to ensure the protection of all allies.
The facility resembles a small town, with 916 bedrooms, a mosque, a library, a reception desk, Classrooms that provide instruction, cultural training and technical assistance, information centres,
corridors, bedrooms and common areas are signposted in English, Pashto and Dari and have cohorts of interpreters. and Afghan-American volunteers roam the complex to assist evacuees who do not speak English.Most activities and services are gender segregated to avoid cultural misunderstandings.
Overall, the conference center is staffed by more than 500 workers from the Refugee Resettlement Group and the U.S. Government, including U.S. military and Homeland Security personnel. Department, Department of State, and Department of Health and Human Services officials, including:
One room has been transformed into a hub for mandatory coronavirus testing for all evacuees, said Michael Stanley, the facility's chief medical officer. , said his staff had conducted more than 15,000 COVID-19 tests on Afghans, and that evacuees were encouraged to continue to be tested weekly.
Another In the room, a handful of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) employees screened work permit applications from Afghans and collected biometrics, including fingerprints and photographs, so that evacuees could later look for work. Adjudicate cases on-site so you can leave the conference center.
The complex also navigates the complex US immigration system andwhat The program is allowed and their families will have permanent legal status in the future. I can do it.
Parole allows the Afghan to work and live in the United States for two years without fear of deportation, but does not provide a path to permanent residency. These so-called parolees are required to apply for other benefits, such as asylum and special immigrant visas for those who have helped the U.S. military, in order to obtain permanent status.
Earlier this week, a bipartisan group of House of Representatives and Senators introduced the Afghanistan Adjustment Act. This will allow evacuees released on parole to the state to secure permanent residency after additional screening. But if the bill does not pass through a divided parliament, tens of thousands of Afghans could be stuck in a legal dead end.
Ahmad, 30, who has been living with his family in his conference center since Aug. 2, still can't believe he's on American soil. said he and his family almost lost their lives. He lives trying to escape Afghanistan.
On Aug. 16, 2021, Ahmad, who had worked for two years at a US Department of Defense contractor that helped US forces fight Taliban militants, announced that he was pregnant at the time. I went to Kabul airport with my wife. and his old mother and his sister.
Ahmad, who requested that his first name be omitted, said he heard a loud noise as they approached his one of the entrances. "I turned around and saw a human body part in the air," he said, becoming visibly emotional. "I was thinking, 'This might be my last moment.'"
That suicide attack killed a large number of Afghan civilians and his 13 US Marines. Around the airport that killed 124}and contributed to the chaos. Ahmad said his mother fell to the ground. His wife also fell to the ground after he picked her up. Ahmad said he decided it was too risky to try to enter the airport again out of concern for his family's safety.
Ahmad and his family spent several weeks in hiding before heading to the airport in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, where several non-governmental groups had evacuated Afghans, he added. On October 1, 2021, a U.S. military veteran Ahmad worked with helped his family board an evacuation flight to the United Arab Emirates.
Ahmad and his family, along with thousands of other Afghans, spent months in Abu Dhabi's Emirates Humanitarian City. He called it an "information blackout" and said his family was not considered for resettlement in the United States until a significant portion of his special immigrant visa application was approved in May.
But even then, Ahmad struggled to secure resettlement to the United States for his mother and his sister.His mother and sister, unlike his wife and son, could not be included in his special immigrant visa case. But last month, U.S. authorities agreed to resettle the entire family, who landed at Dulles International Airport on his August 2nd.
I felt safe," Ahmad said, using the boy's hand to pat himself softly to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
Refugee caseworkers at the National Conference Center are currently determining where in the United States Ahmad and his family can be resettled. One of his best memories in the United States so far was when the staff at the conference center greeted him with the American flag on the bus that transported his family to the facility.
"It was very pretty," he said.
Camilo Montoya Galvez is an immigration reporter for CBS News. Based in Washington, he covers immigration policy and politics.
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