My alerts are full to overflowing with news about when and where the Biden Administration is distributing the Afghan evacuees. The ‘how’ of it all is a bit tricky because the entire refugee program (the Afghans aren’t refugees!) is in disarray as I reported here a few days ago.
I picked the Nebraska story because I traveled through the state on my road trip to have a look at refugee overloaded towns in the west and midwest back in 2016 and I chuckled when I saw this news because I can’t see the Afghans rushing the slaughterhouse employment offices.
And, why should they? According to a report from John Binder, see it here, your tax dollars will flow to them either directly or through the ‘social safety net’ (aka welfare) you pay for.
Binder wraps his piece with this line:
The data revealed also that most Afghan arrivals in the U.S. live on welfare.
About 500 Afghan refugees have arrived in Nebraska; resettlement agencies swamped
The number of Afghan evacuees coming to Nebraska has grown to over 1,000, and about 500 of them have already reached the state.
So far, 469 people evacuated from Afghanistan since the nation’s Aug. 15 collapse have arrived in Nebraska, or are on their way, from U.S. military bases around the nation.
Another 635 Afghan evacuees destined for Nebraska were still at bases, Nebraska State Refugee Coordinator Sara Bockelman said Wednesday. [See her Linked in page —ed]
This is the image on Bockelman’s Linked in page. It appears to be one of those overloaded migrant invasion ships in the Mediterranean. Hopefully not arriving in Nebraska anytime soon!Bockelman
That’s in addition to a smaller, undetermined number of people who came directly to Omaha from Afghanistan or otherwise have ended up in Nebraska.
Bockelman, speaking to a meeting of the Omaha Refugee Task Force, said a total of 1,104 Afghan evacuees are currently expected in Nebraska.
Initially, it was projected that about 655 Afghan evacuees would be placed in Nebraska. But officials said all along that they expected that number to grow.
About 300 of the Afghan evacuees so far have been placed in metropolitan Omaha by Lutheran Family Services and the Refugee Empowerment Center, the two resettlement agencies that place people in Omaha. Others have been placed in Lincoln and Council Bluffs.
To give you some idea of the rapid pace at which people are coming to Nebraska, Lutheran Family Services received 92 Afghan evacuees, including 39 school-age children, in November alone, an official of the agency said at Wednesday’s meeting. And the Refugee Empowerment Center was expecting 20 people to arrive in Omaha on Wednesday.
[….]
Because of the rush of evacuations, a lot of the Afghans of working age are coming without the employment documents that most refugees have when they arrive. So they will need financial help for longer than the usually expected three months until they can start working.
Useful nugget of info here…
Meanwhile, it appears that the pace of Afghan evacuees’ arrival to Nebraska will only pick up. The federal government has set a deadline of Feb. 15 for all people at U.S. military bases to be sent to cities around the nation. Officials at two of those bases have set an earlier deadline, the end of this year.
Guess they will have to be clearing out Ft. Dix in New Jersey pretty quick. Again, don’t miss Breitbarton that ‘welcoming’ arrival location.
FAIR also has more newson your hard earned tax dollars (or borrowed Chinese bucks) going to the Afghan relocation to a town near you.
Endnote: I think I have the spam blocked for now that was overwhelming the comment option here at RRW. You might want to check it out for me and see if you can leave a comment.
6 thoughts on “Nebraska: Afghans Descending on the State (and your state too!)”
Any data on Afghan arrivals to or in the pipeline for Rochester NY? Are any of the Aghans in the pipeline refugees? In what status will they arrive? Are they all eligible for all the refugee benefits normally accorded bona fide refugees? Thanks, Ann, for your hard work. It’s appreciated.
Actually, Nebraska is a good choice for Afghan placement, assuming that these are Afghans who assisted American troops and are ready to become good citizens.
UNO, University of Nebraska Omaha, has had a special Afghan Study Department for many years, even before Taliban. I lived in Omaha in the 90’s and went to several lectures about this program and heard the word “Taliban” for the first time. However, years have blurred the details for me, regarding this UNO program. It was a student exchange program providing grants to Afghan students to study at UNO and I believe that some American students made trips to Afghanistan. I believe that as the result of this program, a small Afghan community was established there in Omaha. If I’m right, then there will be American-Afghanistan Citizens who can assist the new arrivals and encourage them to enter the work force and become productive citizens. We can hope…
Any data on Afghan arrivals to or in the pipeline for Rochester NY? Are any of the Aghans in the pipeline refugees? In what status will they arrive? Are they all eligible for all the refugee benefits normally accorded bona fide refugees? Thanks, Ann, for your hard work. It’s appreciated.
A lot of questions that I don’t know the answer to, but will be keeping my eyes out for the answers. I think the whole mess is still fluid—yuck!
Hi Jim, I did not give you an adequate answer and will address locations in my next post!
Ann, I am in TN…I was able to access you comments with no problem.
Thank you for all you do.
Actually, Nebraska is a good choice for Afghan placement, assuming that these are Afghans who assisted American troops and are ready to become good citizens.
UNO, University of Nebraska Omaha, has had a special Afghan Study Department for many years, even before Taliban. I lived in Omaha in the 90’s and went to several lectures about this program and heard the word “Taliban” for the first time. However, years have blurred the details for me, regarding this UNO program. It was a student exchange program providing grants to Afghan students to study at UNO and I believe that some American students made trips to Afghanistan. I believe that as the result of this program, a small Afghan community was established there in Omaha. If I’m right, then there will be American-Afghanistan Citizens who can assist the new arrivals and encourage them to enter the work force and become productive citizens. We can hope…
They haven’t even been vetted. When Afghans went to Europe, they caused a crime wave.