first we get bin laden, wipe out al qaeda in afghanistan and prevented from happening again. -- prevent that from happening again. terrorism has metastasized around the world and we have greater threats coming from other countries closer to the , united states. we don't have military encampments there, we don't keep people there. ladies and gentlemen, it was time to end a 20 year war. thank you so much. >> will you recognize the taliban as the government? >> federal reserve chairman

jerome powell talks about the u.s. economic outlook at the economic policy symposium. coverage begins friday at 10:00 a.m. eastern online at c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> mark greenberg is with the mine ration policy institute, he is also the former hhs acting assistant secretary for the administration for children and families, serving from 2013 to 2017. mr. greenberg what about these , afghan refugees resettling in the united states? first of all, what is the vetting process like? guest: first, let me just begin by saying a little more broadly, it is a devastating situation which has been very difficult. it is encouraging how many people have been able to get out over the last couple of weeks,

but there are so many who are still there, and there is urgent need both for those who have gotten out and for those who are still there. as to the vetting process, and -- a normal vetting process for the refugee program and for special immigrant visas, which we will talk about more, which is very, very extensive, like the multiple government agencies checking biographical information, checking multiple databases, biometric information. the reason why the process normally takes a long time is because it is such a cumbersome process. for the afghans who have left the country, the administration has indicated that that vetting will continue.

it appears in third countries, that have agreed to take afghans who are leaving from the airport. so the vetting will go on. the lobbyists will make every possible effort to expedite it, but it is a process that has to be done in order to be careful. host: so if you have a special immigrant visa, is that -- that is the process we are talking about. is that correct? what if you don't have that? guest: there are two main groups to be aware of, and then a third one that will also be part of the situation. there are special immigrant visas, those are for people who worked with the united states government for at least a year.

either directly with the government or with a government contractor. they performed billy bush nervous -- they perform valuable service. and they are now at risk of danger, potentially death, based upon the work of the government. so that is the siv program. there has been the regular refugee program, which is the program under which the government normally brings in refugees, and the administration has announced that they will have a category in the refugee program. the pejorative term is p2, for people who worked with the u.s. government but for less than a year, or worked with government funded programs, or u.s.-based nongovernmental organizations, or media organizations.

so, for both the refugee programs and special immigrant visas, both of those involved a very strong verification process. the additional layer of verifications for siv's, of course, is that they need to get a letter of recommendation, but -- from who they work with but they were already betting before they were allowed to work with the government, and then there is the evaluation of how they did, and these are those who risked their lives seeking to help. those are siv's and refugees. the third piece of this that has been in the news recently is what is called parole. parole is a process by which people can be more quickly let into the country for

humanitarian reasons, and it is being used here according to the reporting, it is being used for people who are in the siv pipeline who had an application, it is pending, it has not been completed, but to bring them in within the siv pipeline, and then it appears it is going to be used for additional rules, but the details are not clear on that. host: how long could this process take, for each afghan? guest: that's a good question, and honestly i think we don't know at this point. normally, both the siv process and the refugee resettlement process, the process of admitting a refugee, are processes that take several years or more. for the siv program, congress

actually passed legislation to say, except in high-risk cases, make the determination within nine months, but the government has not been able to meet that standard, and this is based upon failure to meet those standards. but there are lengthy processes already, and the balance that i think the administration must be facing now is wanting to move as quickly as possible, but doing so in a way that keeps the vetting in place and addresses safety and security concerns while also trying to get people here and get settled as quickly as is reasonable. it is easier for those who are further along in the process, but that is probably a pretty

small share of the entire group that the administration would hope to bring in. host: we will take your questions and comments about resettling afghan refugees in the united states. the phone numbers are on your screen. if you are an afghan refugee, a recent refugee of any country, dial in at 202-748-8003 and let us know your story. we would like to hear from you. mr. greenberg, where do these people go while they are waiting? what third countries, and where do they live? how do they have money? guest: the united states has developed a multiple of arrangements with third countries, and that information keeps changing every day. it is being updated every day. so we know there are agreements

with half a dozen countries or more, and the process has involved getting afghans from the airport to third countries. when they are ready and able to come to the united states. the administration has indicated that it is initially making use of foreign military bases. the arriving afghans will first go to military bases, and then after they have completed needed health screening and government services, that they will be able to go to resettlement agencies that will help them getting in communities across the country. host: does it cost them money? do these resettlement agencies

charge them a fee? guest: they do not. the resettlement agency receives funding from the federal government, for each refugee or siv that they serve. so it is a per capita amount that is based upon the number served. so they will receive something -- funding for that. however, it is pretty limited funding, and the funding they get is only intended to provide services through the first 30 to 90 days. it is a multistep process where initially, arriving refugees will get help from the resettlement agency. then almost all states have a state refugee coordinator who is

, either someone in government or a nongovernmental organization, and they organize benefits and services after that 30 to 90 days often contracting , with the resettlement agency. host: you are talking about once they get to the united states. >> this is all once they get to the united states. host in the meantime, they are : at a third country military base until they are allowed to come here? guest: they are in third-party countries, and frankly, i have been trying to follow this. the precise arrangement as to services and how people are managing during this period of time, and particularly if it will be a longer period of time. host: once they go to the united states, they go to a resettlement agency 30 to 90

days and the state helps to take care of them. what is the process like then? how long typically does it take for a refugee to get on their own feet? yes: to back up a little bit the , reception and placement stage, the refugee arrives, and the normal way the system works, a resettlement agency would meet them at the airport, has made arrangements for housing, for furniture, for having a stuffed refrigerator, would then help -- stocked refrigerator, would then help them in getting settled into the community, help them if they have children, getting involved in schools, help getting social security card. if there is a bus system, learn how the bus system works. the basic community orientation. this is done by the resettlement

agency, very frequently in partnership with local churches, synagogues, other religious groups, community groups, the business community, and there are also efforts made to help people get english language learning classes. that is all in this initial period of time. after the state coordinator takes on their responsibilities, those kinds of services will continue, resettlement for nader's receive social services from the federal government that can be used for the english language, employment services, a pretty broad range of other services. there is limited cash and medical assistance.

they initially make an effort to determine if the arriving refugee qualifies for federal programs, and if they don't, they can provide up to eight months of very modest cash assistance and up to eight months of medical assistance for those who do not apply for -- qualify for medicaid. i should emphasize that the whole orientation of the program is around rapid employment, getting a job as quickly as possible. it is actually sometimes criticized for that, because in some instances, arriving refugees have significant skills, experience, qualifications from their prior life. the focus is on getting a job as quickly as possible.

it is very frequently the focus of the refugee also because they want to be working. the amount of help they get really is not enough to support a family. a really strong emphasis on getting a job as quickly as possible. host: let's get to calls. barry. in new york. questioner, echo -- question or comment? caller: really, a comment i would like to make. it has been reported over the course of 20 years that our military was very super careful in vetting many of these people and still, throughout the course of 20 years, we had many green on blue attacks. i don't know what type of vetting you are talking about, but i don't think you can do vetting better than our military does in the country. we saw many attacks on our soldiers. i think that we can expect the same thing here when people come here, that we are going to have

to tolerate the attacks on americans. host: more details, if you could about vetting. guest: the vetting process focuses on basically everything that can be known about this individual and their life up to this time. it is very comprehensive. as with any process, circumstances can change over time but it is as careful as it can be. the overall u.s. experience with arriving refugees over the past 20 years, there is no example of people being killed by refugees

who have entered this country in terror attacks. it is a process that began as careful as it can and is in context here of seeking to bring in people who have helped the united states and put their own lives at risk in doing so. host: mike, houston, texas. republican. caller: good morning. we assume that the people coming over here have put their lives at risk in helping americans overseas. we are assuming that. i disagree and think there are many refugees coming in who have not done that but are here. my first question and suspicion is, how many of these refugees will be settled in martha's vineyard?

do you think there will be any of them settled in martha's vineyard where the comforts, the greatest comforts in america exist? where the elite from washington, d.c. go to retire? there is no mixture. do you think a fourth-grade stanford bound kid is going to have an afghan refugee sitting next to them? that fourth-grade stanford bound kid might be the son or grandson of a politician. there is never a connection. it is amazing how politicians have so much good heart and all these good intentions to help all of these people around the world who live on two dollars a day, two dollars a day for their entire lives, they bring them here and then the peasants around america have to support them. they get social security cards, what else can we do with a $28 section eight housing. trillion debt? where are we printing this money.

host: heard your point. mark greenberg, where do these refugees go and how is that decided? guest: the way the process works, there are nine national resettlement agencies. the national resettlement agencies are nonprofit organizations. most of them are faith-based organizations. they go through a process of determining for people who are arriving, where their initial settlement should be. this is in part based upon looking at where they already have friends and family, looking at the capacity of the agencies, where they have offices. community capacity.

over the last 10 years, the largest refugee receiving states have been texas and california and new york and michigan and arizona and washington. but refugees do live across the country. one of the important considerations that agencies are often facing here is that one of the greatest problems for arriving refugees will be the cost of housing. because they are at least starting out in jobs that typically don't pay a lot, it is important to settle in communities where there is a better chance of being able to afford the cost of housing. i should emphasize that the research makes clear that when

refugees do rapidly enter employment, the overseer -- time, their circumstances can improve and they are net contributors and often very strong net contributors to local economies. host: michael in d.c. democratic caller. caller: i am listening to mr. greenberg i think this is an , excellent discussion, thank you, c-span for allowing average voices to speak on this because respectfully, i do not know if he is an american, but as an american citizen, i, for one, put americans above and by far first in our priority. i cannot for the life of me understand how we are talking about bringing in refugees when

-- spending one dime come up when we have a pandemic. supposedly, there is a national crisis. hospitals are filling up. we don't how bad this is going to get. yet on top of bringing refugees and from the southern border, from our failed wars and foreign policy mistakes, we are going to do the same on the biggest mistake of all, the afghan war and occupation. a 20 year horrible mistake that can only end one way for everyone involved, badly. host: mark greenberg, if you could explain how many refugees the united states takes in compared to other countries. guest: sure. historically, the united states has been a leader in refugee resettlement for the world. that really changed during the last administration.

the number of refugees who were admitted declined very sharply during the trump administration. the last year of president obama's administration, 85,000 refugees were admitted to the united states. last year, the figure wound up being about 12,000. it has been a very sharp decline over this period. i should note that one of the challenges that communities now face is that when those refugee numbers fell so sharply, that also led to significant reductions in funding for the settlement agencies. that meant the number every

-- number of instances settlement agencies had to look close offices or lose staff. part of what they are facing this year is the effort to rebuild, which now becomes increasingly urgent. i do want to emphasize there are overall issues about the importance of the refugee program, but what is particularly important here is appreciating that the people we are talking about our -- are people who risked their lives for the united states or in the efforts to build a new afghanistan. whatever we think about the war and the way in which it was conducted, these are people that we are indebted to because they

risked their lives for us. host: are we taking the most afghan refugees? or is it other countries nato , allies, taking as many as the united states is? guest: i think that is a fluid situation and we will need to see where the numbers settle. the accounts recently have been that the united states is bringing in 50,000. some number of them are people who were at various stages of the special immigrant visa process. the total figure being used so far is 50,000. i think we don't know if that is where it is going to wind up. host: look at the numbers according to the u.n. refugee agency. these are the 2020 countries

accepting the most refugees. pakistan led the list, followed by iran, germany, austria and france. the united states ranked 22nd. what do you make of these countries, pakistan, iran, germany, austria, france taking more refugees? what does that say? guest: i think it reflects broadly the crucial importance for countries of recognizing humanitarian obligations in helping those in need. this was something where the united states role was much more prominent, declined and that has an impact on other countries when they united states will decline. this is going to be an issue and

the needs are going to be greater then just what the united states alone can do, but the united states does have a unique responsibility here based upon the twenty-year war and those people who have put their lives at risk for us. host: lisa in tennessee wants to know, if a refugee commits a violent crime, can they be deported? guest: yes. the situation is when refugees , are admitted after a year, , they can become lawful permanent residents. after five years, they can become citizens. before they become a citizen, they can be deported for having committed a range of crimes just

like other persons who are noncitizens. host: jeff in nebraska. republican. caller: i really do think that if any of these men and women helped any of our veterans, if they helped them at all they , deserve to come over here. however, i would like to know how this is all going to work out when we just allowed 2 million people to come across the border in the south and we have the afghans we are bringing over here now. how is all that going to make sin? -- makes in- mix in? host: what is your concern, chief concern for these afghans on top of the illegal immigration? what do you think could happen in the united states? caller: we are getting overrun.

>> for those who are coming in now, it is likely to be a pretty big mix and for those coming in with special immigrant visas, they will typically have higher degree of education. they are frequently persons who were interpreters or troons

lateors or otherwise using english in their job. then higher education and literacy levels. as i was talking about a little bit ago, for many, there will be an issue of getting a job quickly. there will be and working for a

u.s. contractor and the mother may have less education and less work experience. and so, one of the challenges and things that the resetment agencies will likely be doing is seeking to work with both fathers and mothers and helping mothers who may not speak english and may not have significant paid work experience. i should also note tt half of refugee arrivals typically are under age 20. there are a whole set of additional issues and needs for

rising children. -- arriving children. school enrollment hopefully, connecting to early childhood programs, for younger children, and as people are thinking about needs in their communities, one big one really is employment and housing, and then seeking to help all of the members of the family as they seek to become fully integrated into the united states. host: david, grand rapids, michigan. independent. caller: good morning. somebody was saying -- sentenced yesterday for six years for six years before plotting an attack on her govern -- our governor

and she said she still has a problem people protesting. we have middle-age white men running through the woods trying to take over and burn down democracy. my comment is that i would trust and afghan refugee more than a middle-aged white man running around me in the stand age. this idea that we cannot treat everybody equally, that understanding that because i am white i believe a different something or other? guess what, we all deserve to be healthy and cared for. again, i would trust a refugee more so than i would trust any white man at this point in time. host: got it. dane in wisconsin. who is coming here from afghanistan? is it the interpreter and immediate family, wife and kids or chain migration such as mom, dad, uncle, aunt, etc.? guest: first thing, it is a

fluid situation. we are going to keep learning more over time. in the first instance, it is clear there is a strong emphasis on those who were very close to getting special immigrant visas or in the pipeline for that program. when someone comes through with a special immigrant visa, they can bring their immediate family with them. as we talked about from earlier, there will then be this bigger group of refugees, which will include more than just those that worked directly with the u.s. government, but so far, everyone that the ministration has identified is someone who

was affiliated with the u.s. in some way and has helped the u.s. in some way. those will be who is coming right now. again, in the coverage, they have indicated it will be in the range of 50,000. clearly, the numbers in need are much greater than that and they are going out to make decisions about that. host: aaron in alexandria. caller: good morning. i just have a comment maybe you can clarify if this is true or not and then a question. it seems as though our money, taxpayer dollars have been used to support the war and our taxpayer dollars are now being used to support those who gave a benefit to the united states war

machine to benefit their objectives. can you clarify if that is true or not because it sounds like our tax dollars are paying twice. when we talk about we are indebted to people who helped the united states, this country has yet to repay or give payment to the people but actually founded and established the country and done right by native americans, african-americans, chinese-americans. i know there is a moral obligation. i believe we have a moral obligation to help those in need around the world, but if we are just looking at faith-based organization helping these people and don't necessarily share the same faith, how do we manage that and what is your role in that? guest: sure. i think the first thing i would emphasize is there are certainly

people and groups in need in many situations of which this is just one. this is absolutely a situation of tremendous urgency right now. in terms of cost to taxpayers, i have talked about what the refugee resettlement structure is. i think it does good work. i have visited communities, talked with refugees and others. i think it is a structure we can be proud of, but it is really not a richly funded structure. as you have probably been seeing over these past few weeks,

resettlement agencies reaching out and highlighting ways to get involved, there are some ways to get involved directly, and then there are also -- they are also asking for donations. that really reflects the facts that there are significant needs that just don't get met with the level of funding provided by government support. host: if viewer wants to know, are there organizations that you can recommend to make donations to to help these afghan refugees? they risked everything, says ed, to help us and our government should not have abandoned them. guest: i think it is probably best of them not recommend a specific organization. what i can say is that if possible, in addition to just googling in your local community, you can go to the website or federal office of

refugee resettlement or for the state department where they have lists of local resettlement organizations and communities in the office of refugee resettlement also has names and contact information for state coordinators. if you want to get connected about the situation in your state. there are a lot of groups who are doing good work. i do just want to underscore that the resettlement agencies played this key role when people come in, but it is with lots of committee partnerships, with significant roles for faith-based groups and business communities and others part of what has been heartening over the last couple of weeks,

particularly, is the extent of public outpouring of people asking how they can help. host: donna in wisconsin. caller: i want to know why they are sending all of these refugees to camp mccoy without being embedded. -- without being vetted. they should be vetted before they land on our soil. second, i would like to know how long the freebies last and how much exactly do each of these people get from us taxpayers and for how long? host: mr. greenberg? guest: for those who are coming to this country, the ministration indicates that the vetting has already happened before they get here. they are not doing the vetting at the military base when they get here. the vetting has been done in

certain countries before they get here. the administration indicates that when people are getting to the military bases, they are getting a medical screening, a variety of health care services getting help in applying for things like the work authorization that will allow them to legally work in this country. and then, getting a connected through the resettlement agencies with the communities they will ultimately go to. in terms of the questions of how much is paid, one thing that is notable is the trump administration actually commissioned a study to look at

plus and benefit -- flaws and benefits for arriving refugees and cost per benefit in relation to taxes paid. the study wound up concluding that over time, what is paid in taxes substantially exceeds what is provided in benefits. but then, the study was not released. host: here is gigi from north carolina. is it possible the united states is taking less refugees because they would prefer to go to place closer to home? do they have a choice as to where they are relocated? guest: no one will be coming to the united states who does not want to come to the united states. again, because this is such an evolving situation that people

will need to figure out what choices they have over time, these are people who have applied to come to the united states because the program has operated taking so much time. there was a significant backlog of people who wanted to come to the united states and were waiting for approval. there has been a strong priority on helping. host: jason in ohio. it is your turn. caller: thank you. my question is, of these immigrants coming how many were part of the 300,000 standing army that we outfitted and funded? or the government that we propped up that cut iran?

and, most of those military members, i'm sure can read and write. so what happens to them from their. guest: the program itself was for those who were translators, interpreters, otherwise helping the u.s. military effort. and then, the group will be able to come in as refugees will be a broader group. i do think that one of the questions administration is going to have to figure out is what to do about the very large number of people who were not working for the united states or u.s. affiliated groups but are

now at risk with the new afghan government based on what they have done in recent years. that is a much bigger group and administration is going to need to figure out what to do about it. host: mark greenberg, senior fellow in human services initiative director for the migration policy institute.karz,

afghanistan.