Tipsheet

How Many Afghan Refugees Are Headed to Your State? Here Are the Numbers.

The Biden administration on Wednesday began notifying governors about how many Afghan refugees would be resettled within their states from the first batch of 37,000 evacuees.

The administration plans to resettle 65,000 Afghans by the end of September, and 30,000 more by September 2022.

While the Associated Press first reported on the numbers, Axios presented the data more clearly.

California and Texas will receive the most, while Hawaii, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia will not receive anyone from the first group. 

Many of the new evacuees requested to be resettled in those states because they already have family and close friends living in those states, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the calls to state government officials. Resettlement agencies also have a large presence and capacity in many of those states.

The State Department resettled evacuees based on the advice of local affiliates of nine national resettlement agencies the U.S. government is working with, the officials said.

The officials said Afghan evacuees are advised that other parts of the country -- including areas with plentiful job openings and cheaper housing -- could be good places to begin their new lives in the U.S. (Associated Press)

Those Afghan refugees 12 and older are required to get the Covid-19 vaccine "as a term of their humanitarian parolee status after entering the country," in addition to a health screening. But in Northern Virginia, there have already been cases of measles reported among the migrants. Flights have been suspended for Afghan refugees waiting in third countries as a result.