Nearly 100 Afghan Refugees Arrive In Arkansas After Gov. Asa Hutchinson Allowed Them To Build Homes in the State

Afghan Refugees Arrive At Dulles Airport After US Pulls Out Final Troops — Refugees board a bus at Dulles International Airport that will take them to a refugee processing center after being evacuated from Kabul following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on August 31, 2021 in Dulles, Virginia. The Department of Defense announced yesterday that the U.S. military had completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending 20 years of war. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Nearly 100 Afghan refugees arrived in Arkansas this week to build their homes and start a new life in the state.

In August, American troops pulled out of Afghanistan to try and put an end to the war. This withdrawal resulted in getting thousands of Afghanistan civilians out of the country as the Taliban started to take over.

Afghan refugees receiving help from two organizations

Gov. Asa Hutchinson granted the opportunity for those displaced to seek refuge in Arkansas.According to reports, the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock has been helping 49 refugees to find homes in the state.

"One family in particular who was reaching out to someone on the base that they had met said, 'Come to Arkansas! It's great!," states Jennifer Verkamp-Ruthven, director of the Catholic Immigration Services, via THV11.

Verkamp-Ruthven adds that the refugees go through a very short and simple orientation about safety, emergency contacts, and housing safety because a western household is different from where they came from.

Other than the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock, the non-profit Canopy NWA handles the second half of the refugees that arrived in Arkansas this week.

Joanna Krause, Canopy NWA executive director, said that thousands of people have been reaching out to their organization to offer temporary housing to Afghan refugees.

Afghan refugees went through routine screening

Before they arrived in the United States, the refugees went through security checks, and they also needed to be fully vaccinated. The local government of Arkansas first announced that they would be taking in 98 Afghan refugees last month.

At the time, Hutchinson said that the refugees had supported the United States for over 20 years. So, it only fits to help relocate them to ensure their safety and the safety of their families.

However, the 98 Afghan refugees are just a tiny part of the 64,000 displaced individuals that will be relocating to the United States.

Joe Biden's administration previously confirmed 64,000 Afghan refugees would be in the United States by September. And another 30,000 refugees will enter the country within the next 12 months, according to UALR Public Radio.

Americans love the idea of helping Afghan refugees

Last month, an NPR/Ipsos poll revealed that seven out of 10 Americans support the resettling of the Afghans who worked with the US government or military. Unlike illegal immigrants, Afghan nationals who opposed the Taliban by fighting for the US deserve to be granted entry into the country because they are allies to the West.

The poll results revealed that nearly three out of four Americans, which includes 73 percent Republicans, favor the resettling of Afghan refugees into the United States.

Nearly two-thirds of the respondents also support the resettling of Afghan refugees that fear repression and prosecution from the Taliban.

However, the poll also showed that deep partisan division still exists when it comes to immigration policy. After all, fewer than half of Republicans support the admission of migrants from Africa, Syria, Libya, and Central America compared to more than 70 percent of Democrats.