US: Afghan evacuees who fail initial screening Kosovo-bound
Source: Associated Press
US: Afghan evacuees who fail initial screening Kosovo-bound
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER
September 4, 2021
An ardent U.S. ally, Kosovo, has agreed to take in Afghanistan evacuees who fail to clear initial rounds of screening and host them for up to a year, a U.S. official said Saturday, in an intended fix to one of the security problems of the frantic U.S. evacuation from the Kabul airport.
The U.S. plan is likely to face objections from refugee advocates, who already complain of a lack of public disclosure and uncertain legal jurisdiction in the Biden administrations use of overseas screening sites. Those quickly set-up overseas transit sites are still operating near or at full speed to verify eligibility and look for security issues among thousands of Afghans and smaller numbers of Americans flown out of Taliban-held Afghanistan between Aug. 15 and Aug. 31.
The U.S. official spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the plan. It was the first disclosure of what the U.S. intends to do with Afghans or other evacuees who have failed to clear initial rounds of screening or whose cases otherwise require more processing.
The U.S. Embassy in Kosovo in a statement later Saturday stressed that the arrangement did not mean Kosovo was taking evacuees who had been deemed ineligible for admission to the United States. Some applicants are still in the process of obtaining needed documents and providing all the information required to qualify under U.S law for immediate entry, the embassy statement said.
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https://apnews.com/article/europe-migration-kosovo-3496cbfc937b0b2b3c467d6ad5859091