WI Leadership Visits Fort McCoy As Afghan Refugees Arrive

WISCONSIN — Wisconsin's political leadership on Wednesday met at Fort McCoy, a U.S. Army base outside Tomah, to be briefed by military officials as Afghan refugees fleeing Taliban rule arrived.

The first refugees fleeing Afghanistan landed in Wisconsin Sunday.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers met with Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of the U.S. Northern Command, and Maj. Gen. Paul Knapp, the Wisconsin National Guard adjutant general, the governor said in a statement. Evers said he also visited with guardsmen and Afghan people at the base.

Around 1,000 Afghans are staying at Fort McCoy, Sen. Ron Johnson (R) told Wisconsin Public Radio. The U.S. Army installation can house up to 10,000 people.

About 1,000 service members from the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Reserves assembled at Fort McCoy to support Operation Allies Refuge, the mission to airlift at-risk Afghans who worked with the military out of Afghanistan.

The Evers administration, the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs and the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families provided clothing, diapers and other supplies to people staying at Fort McCoy, Evers' office said.

Johnson voiced concerns about the influx of refugees and claimed refugees were being flown into the U.S. without being vetted for security, the senator said in a statement. But White House officials said that people coming in from Afghanistan were having their biometric characteristics screened to confirm their identities, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.

Intelligence and law enforcement agencies were screening all special immigrant visa applicants and other vulnerable Afghans, Department of Defense press secretary John Kirby said at a news briefing.

The United States has evacuated approximately 82,300 people since Aug. 14, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a news briefing. The U.S. military and its allies' flights are one of the largest airlifts in world history, she said.

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