Congresswomen greet Afghan refugees at base in New Mexico

Lawmaker says Holloman Air Force Base expecting 5,000 refugees by tomorrow

Some incoming Afghan refugees were greeted by two members of New Mexico’s all-female U.S. House delegation at Holloman Air Force Base this week.

Afghans evacuated in recent days by the American military are largely being processed at U.S. government facilities across the country, including Holloman outside Alamogordo and nearby Fort Bliss in westernmost Texas, before going to resettlement agencies that will determine their final destinations.

Republican U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell on Wednesday recounted her contact with a plane load of about 150 evacuees from Afghanistan during a visit to the Air Force base the previous day. She said the base is expecting to accommodate 5,000 refugees by Friday.

“They had just landed, so obviously I’m interacting with them,” said Herrell, an Alamogordo resident. “The first thing that happens ... they get refreshment, water, food and then they go to a quick medical screening.”

Herrell was accompanied at the base Tuesday by an Air Force general, a Homeland Security coordinator and State Department official, along with Democratic U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury of Albuquerque.

Herrell expressed a combination of pride in the humanitarian effort toward resettlement, trepidation over security vetting procedures and concern for any American citizens still seeking to leave Afghanistan.

“To see a humanitarian effort take shape in this capacity, it touches my heart and it truly makes me proud to be an American,” she said.

She described “Herculean” efforts by contractors and military personnel to set up tents with living quarters, including private spaces to accommodate individual families, and provide medical care including COVID-19 testing.

“My biggest concern is the vetting process” for asylum-seekers, Herrell said. “And we pressed the general yesterday on these issues.”

Lawyers representing refugees and special immigrant visa holders say the wait time for approval is at least two years while background checks and interviews are conducted.

Herrell says she worries Afghan refugees won’t all go through that process, and that U.S. doesn’t have access to enough reliable data on Afghan nationals. She opposes any artificial deadlines for security vetting.

Herrell said her concerns about proper vetting do not signal disapproval of resettlement efforts for Afghan refugees in New Mexico and other states.

“The refugees that are coming here seeking safety and looking for a new way of life, certainly they want to be protected also,” Herrell said. “There needs to be a more robust vetting process at these facilities where they’re stopping before they come to America.”

New Mexico has a new slate of first-term representatives in Congress.

In 2018, Herrell flipped New Mexico’s southern District 2 seat to Republican control while embracing then-President Donald Trump’s border wall strategy and espousing a pro-petroleum philosophy in a major U.S. oil-production hub.

Stansbury won a special election in June on a progressive political platform to fill the former congressional seat of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has offered New Mexico as a ready participant in efforts to assist with Afghan refugees seeking asylum.