President Joe Biden’s administration has brought nearly 24,000 Afghans to the United States for permanent resettlement over the last two weeks, newly revealed data shows.
At a State Department press briefing on Wednesday, spokesman Ned Price said nearly 24,000 “Afghans at risk” had been evacuated from Afghanistan and brought to the U.S. from August 17 to August 31. The data indicate that Biden has brought about 1,600 Afghans to the U.S. every day for the last 15 days.
While the Biden administration has billed the massive resettlement operation as a commitment to Afghans who worked directly for the U.S. Armed Forces, the overwhelming majority of Afghans brought to the U.S. are those who do not qualify for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs).
Instead, most Afghans are arriving in the U.S. through the little-known “humanitarian parole” where they can stay for up to two years before adjusting their immigration status and eventually securing green cards. These Afghans do not qualify even for refugee status.
CBS News reports that about 20,000 of the 24,000 Afghans Biden has brought to the U.S. are living at U.S. military bases across five states, including Texas, Wisconsin, and Virginia.
Despite having not completed their immigration processing, Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) has said the Afghans can leave the U.S. military bases whenever they want and head to other parts of the nation.
On Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent a letter to top Biden administration officials asking them to disclose the number of Afghans on the government’s “No Fly List” who have sought to enter the U.S. via the Afghanistan evacuation and how many Afghans have already been flagged as national security risks after having been brought to the U.S.
Pentagon officials previously said they do not know how many Afghan terrorists have sought to enter the U.S. through the Afghanistan evacuation.
Over the last 20 years, nearly a million refugees have been resettled in the nation — more than double that of residents living in Miami, Florida, and it would be the equivalent of annually adding the population of Pensacola, Florida.
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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