Ohio will receive 855 of the 37,000 Afghan evacuees who will come to the state through the U.S. Department of State’s Afghan Placement and Assistance Program.
“These are individuals who have been partners with United States and deserve our support in return for the support they’ve given us,” said Governor DeWine. “Thank you to the resettlement agencies and communities who have stepped forward and demonstrated they have the resources necessary to help these individuals in their time of need.”
The group will be the first group of evacuees to come to the U.S.
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DeWine said the state will work on placements for the evacuees with eight resettlement agencies, mostly in the northeast and central portions of the state.
Placements are expected to happen over the next six months at the following agencies:
- Community Refugee and Immigration Services in Columbus: 250 evacuees
- International Institute of Akron: 150 evacuees
- Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Services in Cleveland: 100 evacuees
- U.S. Committee for Refugees and Imigrants Cleveland: 100 evacuees
- U.S. Together in Cleveland: 85 evacuees
- U.S. Together in Columbus: 95 evacuees
- U.S. Together in Toledo: 25 evacuees
- Catholic Charities of Southwest Ohio in Cincinnati: 50 evacuees
The state said the federal Afghan Placement and Assistance Program is designed to provide initial relocation services as they begin rebuilding their lives in the U.S.
“The federal government is screening and vetting participants in this program,” the Governor’s office said. “These are individuals who have not yet received refugee status, nor a special immigrant visa. They are arriving to the U.S. under a legal mechanism known as humanitarian parole.”
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services’ Refugee Services program has been working with the settlement agencies to provide the federal government with information on capacity.
Children in the groups who are granted humanitarian parolee status are eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and people under 21 or pregnant women are eligible for Medicaid.