Joe Biden Authorizes an Additional $500M to Resettle Afghans in U.S.

President Joe Biden has authorized hundreds of millions more in American taxpayer money to resettle Afghans in the United States after evacuating them from Afghanistan.

Late Monday evening, Biden ordered the State Department to make available $500 million in additional assistance through the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for Afghans being evacuated and resettled in the U.S.

TOPSHOT - Afghans crowd at the airport as they wait to leave from Kabul on August 16, 2021. (Photo by Shakib Rahmani / AFP) (Photo by SHAKIB RAHMANI/AFP via Getty Images)

Afghans crowd at the airport as they wait to leave from Kabul on August 16, 2021. (SHAKIB RAHMANI/AFP via Getty Images)

The $500 million in additional assistance will go toward “meeting unexpected urgent refugee and migration needs of refugees, victims of conflict, and other persons at risk as a result of the situation in Afghanistan, including applicants for Special Immigrant Visas,” whom the administration has already started bringing to the U.S. for resettlement.

On Monday, Defense Department spokesman John Kirby confirmed that the administration is planning to bring up to 22,000 Afghans to the U.S. for resettlement across the nation. First, they will be sent to three military bases.

Last month, Biden began resettling hundreds of Afghans and their family members at Fort Lee in Prince George County, Virginia. The State Department expanded who could be resettled in the U.S. from Afghanistan by waiving prior requirements and fast-tracking their resettlement, with the help of Republican and Democrat lawmakers.

From January to March, the Biden administration issued more than 2,000 SIVs to Afghans for permanent resettlement in the U.S. From October 2020 to July 31, 4,130 Afghans have been resettled on SIVs, alone, while another nearly 500 Afghans have been resettled in the U.S. through the refugee resettlement program.

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - AUGUST 8: Afghan Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants crowd into the Herat Kabul Internet cafe seeking help applying for the SIV program on August 8, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Many Afghans are in desperate need of assistance completing the forms and obtaining the required human resources letters, a particular challenge for those whose US government work ended years ago. The Biden administration expanded refugee eligibility for Afghans as the Taliban escalates violence in the war-torn country. Thousands of Afghans who worked for the United States government during its nearly 20-year war here now fear for their safety as the US withdraws its troops from the country. Many of these Afghans, who worked as interpreters and translators for US intelligence agencies and military branches, have applied to come to the US as part of the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, with the first such group arriving in the US last month. But, for most SIV candidates, the timeline for relocation remains unknown. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants crowd into the Herat Kabul Internet cafe seeking help applying for the SIV program on August 8, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Refugee resettlement costs American taxpayers nearly $9 billion every five years, according to research, and each refugee costs taxpayers about $133,000 over the course of their lifetime. Within five years, an estimated 16 percent of all refugees admitted will need housing assistance paid for by taxpayers.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.

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