AP Photo/Rahmat Gul
Afghanistan
A U.S. Chinook helicopter flies near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Helicopters are landing at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul as diplomatic vehicles leave the compound amid the Taliban advanced on the Afghan capital.
Following the news that the Biden administration had largely withdrawn troops from Afghanistan and that the Taliban had seized control of the country, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and County Executive Dr. Sam Page said in a joint statement on Tuesday that “St. Louis City and St. Louis County together are ready to welcome at least 1,000 Afghan citizens through the SIV program.”
The SIV program refers to the "special immigrant visa," obtained by those who worked for or with the U.S. government or worked for the International Security Assistance Force as interpreters or translators for the U.S. military. Whether or not Afghans will be able to seek refuge in the U.S. largely depends on this visa. Some 8,000 SIVs were authorized by the U.S. Department of State at the end of July through the Emergency Security Supplemental Appropriations Act.
Concerns over a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan have led to many scrambling to leave the country, including U.S. personnel and U.S. Afghan allies and their families who face a great risk of retaliation from the Taliban for their aid to the U.S. military. The scene at the international airport in Kabul has appeared chaotic as people desperately try to find ways on flights out of Kabul. Commercial flights were temporarily canceled, though some limited flights have resumed. With the U.S. military overseeing air traffic control and security, many of the flights leaving and arriving are U.S. military jets. On Tuesday, the national security news site Defense One posted to Instagram a photo from a packed U.S. Air Force C-17 that evacuated Afghans to a U.S. Air Force base in Qatar.
Locally, Jones and Page said that the International Institute (IISTL) is spearheading efforts in resettling Afghans in St. Louis.
The IISTL—specifically the office engaged in the resettlement of refugees through the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USFRI)—has significant experience in overseeing and aiding in the resettlement process. Paul Costigan is IISTL's senior vice president for operations and Missouri refugee coordinator. He explains all of the overseas coordination required to ensure refugees and people with SIVs make it safely to the U.S. happens through the Department of State; domestic refugee services are coordinated through the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Once individuals with SIVs are processed into the country, they’re sent to their “final destination,” or where they’ve chosen to resettle. Those with family or friends already in the U.S. will likely resettle with or near them, but people without any personal ties to the U.S. are given a list of 19 cities “as potential areas that they can resettle in [where] they have an organization ready, and they have a community that's welcoming,” Costigan says. St. Louis is No. 7 on this list.
From the moment individuals arrive at the airport or the front door of IISTL—or another affiliated refugee resettlement organization in Missouri—they are met with assistance. IISTL will have a furnished apartment filled with food, cookware, sheets, and other essentials ready for their use. Other tools provided by IISTL include programming around employment, small business development, social services, public school enrollment for children, health care access, English classes for adults, and other help with entry into the community.
St. Louis will likely be one of many resettlement areas for Afghan SIV holders seeking refuge, even if it is not fully known when that will happen or to what capacity beyond the 1,000 person estimate given by Jones and Page. In the context of Missouri as a whole, Costigan's office has to report to The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants a yearly estimate of how many refugees and SIV holders they believe the state can support. For the 2022 year, the estimate they gave was 2,035 people.
“We're here because we think Missouri is a great place for refugees and SIVs," Costigan says, "and we want to encourage them to come here, to stay here, to prosper here.”
