Afghan Evacuees Spewed Racism, Sexism at U.S. Aid Workers, Audit Finds

Afghan evacuees subjected U.S. refugee workers to racism and sexism because they were “unaccustomed to the norms of U.S. society” and the ad hoc nature of the 2021 airlift left the government with too little time to blunt their racism through a full orientation, according to an inspector general’s report.

Some evacuees refused to work with caseworkers who were women or minorities.

Agency workers were putting in 14-hour days, seven days a week, only to face what the audit called “verbal abuse” by evacuees who thought they weren’t being treated very well.

The workload and the abuse took their toll, with resettlement agencies reporting an unprecedented attrition rate of up to 20% in less than a year.

Employees begged for mental health resources to help them deal with the whirlwind they were thrown into {snip}

Investigators found the chaotic airlift and the overwhelming numbers — some 72,000 Afghans were welcomed and resettled by the Afghan Placement and Assistance program — were too much for the U.S. to accommodate seamlessly.

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On the plus side, the resettlement agencies said they had no complaints about Uncle Sam’s funding — nearly $2.8 billion that President Biden allocated for helping the evacuees {snip}

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The chaos of the airlift meant the new arrivals weren’t refugees but rather were brought in under Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s power of “parole.”

If they’d come as refugees, they would have been required to take part in cultural orientation both overseas and after arrival here. Parolees have no such requirement — and the inspector general said that created many of the problems encountered by resettlement agencies.

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The clash of cultures has played out in criminal cases, too.

The Times has reported on one evacuee accused of molesting a teenage girl who defended his actions to investigators by saying it was part of his culture to hug and kiss children.

Another case involved a man accused of beating his wife and slashing her wrists with a razor because she took a seat at an evacuee meeting, while his brother had to stand.

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