FORT MCCOY, Wis. — Five Republican Congress members of the State Congressional delegation toured Fort McCoy this afternoon where thousands of refugees are staying.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, Rep. Byran Steil, Rep. Tom Tiffany and Rep. Scott Fitzgerald all agreed that they were glad they were able to see the conditions the refugees were living in but said they were concerned that they left with more questions than answers.
Their main concern, Rep. Tiffany said was,” People are not coming in here on special immigrant visas, they may be in the process, but they’re not coming in here on SIVs at this point,” Tiffany said.
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Fort McCoy officials have said that all 2,000 refugees staying there are in the process of getting SIVs.
“We want to see those Afghans come here who have helped us when we were in Afghanistan for 20 years but we have to make sure that the bad guys like ISIS, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban do not embed people into the refugees and send them here to America,” Tiffany said.
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Fort McCoy and U.S. defense officials continue to say the refugees staying there have been thoroughly vetted before landing in the US, going through biometric and biographic vetting.
“We saw our troops here providing comfort and aid to individuals who escaped from Afghanistan,” Steil said. “I still have very significant questions that I’ll be following up with the Biden administration on regarding the vetting process of individuals who have exited Kabul come through the lily pads, and ultimately arriving here at Camp McCoy.”
During a briefing, the congress members were told the refugees would be stationed at Fort McCoy for 2-4 weeks before sending them to another agency, but it is still unclear where they would go.
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