[Just the News] Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, is best known as home to the Army’s tank division, the revered Old Ironsides military insignia and the country’s largest military-controlled airspace. But the Biden administration’s botched exit from Afghanistan is turning the vast installation into ground zero for the evacuation of Afghans who spent two decades helping the United States fight the war against terror.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn says the fort is preparing to receive 10,000 Afghan refugees, and military officials have hinted that number could reach much higher.
It’s the second major wave of civilian guests to be hosted at the fort, which began this spring helping the Homeland Security and Health and Human Services Departments to house thousands of unaccompanied minor children who were brought across the border.
The first mission has been plagued by multiple allegations of "poor, unsanitary and otherwise inadequate conditions," child abuse and neglect.
The portable tents set up for the migrants can hold up to 10,000 unaccompanied minors, but at the time of Cornyn’s visit only 2,500 were there, with an average reported stay of seven days.
On Tuesday, Cornyn received briefings at Fort Bliss and said the base was prepared "to take as many as 10,000 of those Afghans who worked alongside their American partners all these many years to try to combat terrorism and make America safe." The Texas Republican serves on both the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees.
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