Fort McCoy May House Afghan Refugees

Tuesday, August 17th, 2021 -- 1:00 PM

(CNN) Pentagon press secretary John Kirby confirms to CNN that the Department of Defense will potentially relocate up to 30,000 Afghan SIV applicants into the US.

Kirby says that Fort Bliss in Texas and Fort McCoy here in Wisconsin have the capability to house these applicants. On Sunday, CNN reported the Biden administration has curtailed the number of government-sponsored evacuation flights to the United States for Afghans who worked alongside the US as it prioritizes the evacuation of American personnel from the country, three sources familiar with the situation told CNN Sunday.

It is unclear how long the pause in flights will last and the situation remains fluid. As of last week, refugee resettlement agencies were preparing for a large influx of Afghan arrivals, two of the sources said, and Biden administration officials were discussing an uptick in SIV flights.

On Sunday, a joint statement from the Departments of Defense and State reiterated that the administration would “accelerate the evacuation of thousands of Afghans eligible for U.S. Special Immigrant Visas.”

This is not the first time the fort would host a large refugee population. During several months in 1980, the fort housed more than 14,000 Cuban refugees from the Mariel Boatlift.

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