Wisconsin military base prepares to house Afghan refugees

Hundreds of Afghan refugees could be headed to western Wisconsin in the coming weeks as they flee their homeland following the Taliban's swift takeover of the country.

On Tuesday, Department of Defense officials said the U.S. soon could be airlifting between 5,000 and 9,000 people a day from Afghanistan, with one aircraft per hour flying to and from the Kabul airport.

Fort McCoy, an Army base about 170 miles southeast of the Twin Cities, is preparing to welcome the refugees, who will be housed in military barracks before nonprofits and other organizations help find more permanent settlements, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

As many as 22,000 refugees who are part of the Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) program — which is open to Iraqi and Afghan translators, interpreters and others (and their families) who helped the U.S. military — soon could arrive at Fort McCoy as well as Fort Bliss in Texas and Fort Lee in Virginia, Department of Defense officials said, adding that the Wisconsin and Texas sites are under assessment.

In the Twin Cities on Tuesday, Masehullah Sahil, 37, of Lakeville was frantically trying to help his parents and siblings get on one of the flights leaving Afghanistan.

Sahil, who worked for 10 years as an interpreter and translator for the U.S. military, moved to Minnesota seven years ago through the SIV program and is a U.S. citizen.

Now that the Taliban has seized control of his homeland, he fears they will target his family because of his work with the U.S. "Right now, my family is in grave danger," he said. "And that's because of me … my work with the U.S. military. I can't forgive myself if something happens to them because of me."

Sahil said he is frantically appealing to U.S. Sen. Tina Smith and the rest of Minnesota's congressional delegation for help, but as of Tuesday, he was no closer to helping his loved ones escape. "The only thing we can do is cry," he said, breaking down in tears as he recalled a phone conversation with his mother this week. "We just keep praying."

Several other American citizens from Minnesota also are trapped in Afghanistan after visiting relatives there.

In Bloomington, Ziaullah Qazizada was waiting Tuesday for any word of a flight out for his wife and three kids, who are all U.S. citizens and were visiting family through September.

The Department of Defense said Tuesday that 165 Americans were evacuated from Kabul overnight Monday, but thousands more still could be there.

In Richfield, Arrive Ministries, which helps refugees find apartments and other services, is among the local organizations preparing to help an influx of Afghan refugees. But it may not know how many will arrive or when until 24 hours beforehand.

"It all happens really, really quickly," said Mike Bergman, the Arrive Ministries executive director.

The organization was told this week to be prepared to welcome an Afghan family of six to the Twin Cities, arriving soon under the SIV program.

"But we have no idea when," Bergman said. "It's a scramble."

Compared with some states, such as California, Minnesota and Wisconsin have not been major destinations for Afghan refugees and immigrants in the past.

Since 2010, only four refugees from Afghanistan have settled in Minnesota and 70 refugees have settled in Wisconsin, according to the Refugee Processing Center.

Those numbers, however, don't include people in the SIV program. According to the Journal Sentinel, the last time Fort McCoy housed a significant number of refugees was 1980.

Kelly Smith • 612-673-4141