The last group of Afghan evacuees being housed at Camp Atterbury departed the base Wednesday.
Atterbury was one of eight Department of Defense “safe havens” for Afghan evacuees. Since September, the camp housed more than 7,200 evacuees as part of Operation Allies Welcome.
“As operations at Camp Atterbury come to an end, we are grateful for the partnerships that state and local leaders, the Indiana National Guard, non-profit organizations, and Hoosiers across the state have forged with our team,” said Operations Allies senior response official Robert Fenton, Jr. in a press release.
READ MORE: Operation Allies Welcome resettlement at Camp Atterbury will conclude this week
The effort has managed more than 76,000 Afghans, as of Thursday. Approximately 9,000 are still awaiting resettlement at three military locations:
- Fort McCoy, Wisc.
- Fort Pickett, Va.
- Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.
All evacuees were screened by intelligence, law enforcement, and counterterrorism professionals. Additionally, they all received vaccinations (measles, mumps, rubella, COVID-19, flu) as a condition of their humanitarian parole.
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, humanitarian parole allows temporary presence in the U.S. However, it is not an immigration status and does not provide a path to lawful permanent residence or immigration status.
Just over 200 evacuees from Camp Atterbury have settled in Indiana.
