Afghan Refugees At Joint Base Beginning To Be Settled, Feds Say

JOINT BASE McGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ — Efforts to resettle Afghan refugees who are being housed temporarily at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst have been moving along over the six to seven weeks since they arrived from Afghanistan.

Officials overseeing Operation Allies Welcome, the program that is working to help Afghan refugees transition to life in the United States, say they are making progress on helping the 8,700 people staying at the base move on to the next phase of life.

The resettlement process requires the completion of five key phases: immigration intake, medical processing to identify any health issues, vaccinations, biometric collection, and resettlement interviews, said Timothy Kaberia, spokesman for the Operation Allies Welcome efforts at the Joint Base.

“The ultimate goal of Operation Allies Welcome is to successfully resettle vulnerable Afghans into local communities while prioritizing national security and public health,” said Robert Fenton, senior response official for Operation Allies Welcome.

The public health aspect has included a vaccination campaign that included measles, mumps and rubella, along with chickenpox and COVID-19 over a week in early September.

“The success of this vaccination campaign demonstrates our commitment to the public health of Afghan nationals, the personnel assisting this mission, and the American public,” Fenton said.

In addition to medical screening and vaccinations, the refugees have gone through multiple layers of screening and vetting, federal officials said. That includes biographic screenings conducted by intelligence, law enforcement, and counterterrorism professionals from the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense, the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center and other agencies in the intelligence community.

“Screening and vetting is the first priority,” said Tom Decker, the federal coordinator for Operation Allies Welcome.

During a telephone town hall meeting in late September hosted by U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, Decker said the majority of the 64,000 Afghans who arrived in the United States as a result of the August airlifts out of Afghanistan had either worked directly with the United States forces in Afghanistan or are family members of those who did.

“If someone fails any of these checks they were not permitted to come to the United States,” Decker said. Once they arrived in the United States there was additional security vetting at the point of entry.

The effort includes assisting the refugees in applying for work authorization, and getting settled in communities, he said.

Kaberia said some of the Afghan refugees who arrived in August already have been resettled.

“Many more are in the process,” he said, adding that effort is being led by the State Department “in close coordination with more than 200 resettlement agencies around the country.”

Kaberia said the State Department works with nine resettlement agencies and their networks of local affiliates to resettle those who have received Special Immigrant Visas through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program Reception and Placement Program.

“Placement of SIV recipients prioritizes reunification with U.S.-based family and friends, and also considers the needs and characteristics of each case,” he said.

The agency does not release resettlement locations due to privacy concerns, Kaberia said.

“This is not the first time we have hosted and resettled refugees,” said Kim, who represents New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District, including the Joint Base. Albanian refugees were hosted in 1991 and in 1999, refugees from Kosovo were brought to the United States as well.

Kim said the selection of the joint base as one of the refugee sites highlights the importance of the base.

“We should be proud of our role,” Kim said. “It recognizes the critical role our base members are playing.”

Though concerns about the availability of translators who speak the languages of Afghan refugees were raised during Kim’s telephone town hall, Kaberia said there are more than 40 interpreters at the joint base.

He said the process to resettle Afghans has been moving along at a good pace. There were approximately 9,300 Afghan refugees at the Joint Base initially, officials said.

“We endeavor to help our guests understand that they are experiencing a process that when done independently can cost thousands of dollars and take anywhere from 1-5 years,” Kaberia said. “The Afghan guests we have here are getting through these initial resettlement process stages in a matter of months.”

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