Virginia's senators ask White House to be more forthcoming with info about Afghan refugees

WASHINGTON — Virginia's senators have asked the Biden administration for more transparency in sharing information about Afghan refugees being temporarily sheltered at some of the commonwealth;s military installations, including Forts Lee and Pickett.

In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine expressed concerns over what they called "insufficient coordination and communication" between the White House and localities that surround the posts where the refugees are being housed. The senators said they have been gauging sentiment across the state about helping the Afghan nationals transition from war-torn Afghanistan to the U.S., but they have been stymied by the reticence from the federal government about sharing what they can do to help.

"We again urge, to the greatest extent possible, full coordination with local officials and entities who can help manage the logistics and balance resources on behalf of local communities," they wrote in the letter addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Robert Fenton, a senior response official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

DHS became the lead agency in coordinating the operation dubbed Operation Allies Welcome after the completion of U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years. DoD and the State Department coordinated the original plan July 30 to get Afghan nationals who worked for the U.S. government out of harm's way by evacuating approximately 50,000 holders of Special Immigrant Visas to the United States. Fort Lee served as the first military post to shelter the refugees, later joined by Fort Pickett near Blackstone, Marine Corps Base Quantico in northern Virginia, and posts in other states.

Fort Pickett has the capacity to shelter as many as 10,000 evacuees if necessary.

Health crisis:VDH: Measles outbreak among recent Afghan refugees prompts call for local contact testing

Warner and Kaine also said in the letter that they want answers to several questions surrounding the capacity of on-post medical care for the refugees and what the government would do to support off-post hospitalization if the care exceeds the posts' capacities.

"Nationwide and in Virginia, hospitals and health centers are struggling due to ongoing challenges related to COVID-19, staffing shortages, and other serious medical capacity concerns," they wrote. "Hospitals and health providers in the areas surrounding these bases have indicated that they are already near capacity, given these pandemic and staffing constraints."

The senators asked to see any contingency plans the government has in case the local hospitals do not have the bedspace for sick refugees, as well as plans to ensure the evacuees are being properly vaccinated for COVID-19.

"[W]e urge you to ensure that OAW is operating as a constructive partner to states and localities, and to make sure these states and localities have the support and resources that they require to meet both their needs, and the extraordinary aims of this operation," the letter read. 

A message was left at the DHS office in Washington seeking comment on the letter. As of this writing, that message has not been answered.

Witness:Kaine: 'I wish the entire American public' could see Fort Lee's Afghan evacuation work

Growing:Governor: Prince George-based aluminum products maker plans $102 million county expansion

Veteran journalist Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is the regional daily news coach for the USA TODAY Network Southeast Region's Unified Central group, which includes Virginia, West Virginia and portions of North Carolina. He is based at The Progress-Index in Petersburg, Virginia. Contact Bill at batkinson@progress-index.com, and follow him on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.