San Diego County prepares for influx of Afghan refugees

County officials are preparing for more than 1,000 refugees to resettle in San Diego, following the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The board voted unanimously last week on a measure proposed by Supervisor Joel Anderson to direct the County Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs to prepare for an influx of Afghans expected to arrive in San Diego. It also agreed unanimously to request that Congress provide federal aid and to use some of the $9.5 billion in frozen Afghan assets to help support those efforts.

The refugees include Afghan military members, interpreters for the U.S. military and others who assisted the U.S. during two decades of occupation in the country and who are now at risk of reprisal by the Taliban, officials said.

“As a country we made a promise to a group of people that if they would help us and aid us in our fight we could take care of them,” Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said. “We gave them our word.”

At least 58,000 Afghan refugees are likely to enter the United States, including an estimated 5,200 people headed for California, according to State Department data for the Afghan Placement and Assistance program obtained by The Associated Press.

Most of those will move to communities where they have existing friends or family, officials said. San Diego is likely to be a top resettlement area after Sacramento, Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer said.

“We are about to see a historic amount of refugees resettle in the United States, perhaps the most since the Vietnam War,” Lawson-Remer said.

Frozen Afghan assets could supplement other federal funding to cover costs of receiving the refugees, Anderson said.

“At the end of the day, we know that we’re going to have in excess of 1,000 coming,” Anderson said. “While we are a very welcoming community, we shouldn’t bear the burden of all refugees coming to the United States.”

In a separate action, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa on Friday announced the rescue of an American couple trapped in Afghanistan after the U.S. military withdrawal.

Issa, R-Bonsall, said the couple are American citizens who are more than 80 years old and have deep roots in the San Diego region.

The statement did not identify the couple.

They had attempted to flee Afghanistan for several weeks but were prevented by the Taliban, Issa said. Reps. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma, and Mike Waltz, R- Florida, helped complete casework to enable them to return to the U.S., he said.

Issa represents California’s 50th District, which includes central and northeastern parts of San Diego County and part of Riverside County.