(CBS) The U.S. government was housing nearly 20,000 Afghan refugees at military installations in five states as of Wednesday morning, while another 40,000 evacuees remained at bases overseas awaiting processing, according to internal federal data reviewed by CBS News.
These figures, which have not been previously reported, provide more detail on the whereabouts of a portion of the approximately 124,000 people the Biden administration said it airlifted from Kabul in the past few weeks.
Eight military sites in Virginia, Wisconsin, New Mexico, New Jersey and Indiana have been tasked with temporarily housing Afghan refugees, including those who aided the U.S. war effort and other at-risk evacuees. Collectively, the sites can house approximately 32,000 evacuees, but officials have been instructed to expand that capacity to 50,000 spots by September 15.
