CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. — Rep. Victoria Spartz and Rep. Greg Pence visited refugees and soldiers with the Indiana National Guard at Camp Atterbury over the weekend.
At the moment just shy of 7,000 people evacuated out of Afghanistan last month are now living in temporary quarters in at Camp Atterbury in southern Johnson County. Spartz said the process is tough in vetting and figure out who everyone is and where they need to go.
“Over 66-hundred people, only 25 had actual documents,” Spartz said to Newsmax. “Only half of them had some kind of status in trying to apply (for asylum or legal immigration to the US.)
She added that around 200 women at Atterbury are pregnant.
Spartz said that it’s still not clear how many people who got on the planes out of Kabul are actual refugees. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress last week that none of the people evacuated were vetted or screened before getting on the planes.
The process is now taking place here in the U.S. in places like Camp Atterbury. Spartz said though the thorough vetting is necessary, it’s creating a strain on the system.
“The immigration system is already overwhelmed with asylum seekers and settlement that we have to on the southern border which is completely abandoned and open,” said Spartz. “It creates a problem on the legal immigration system.”
Spartz said that Congress needs to be vigilant of how the process moves forward, especially with the plan to integrate many of the people being vetted into American society. Many people will be given the opportunity to settle in the U.S. Spartz wants effective policies to be put in place to make sure that goes as smooth as possible.
