For the more than 50,000 Afghans who the administration of President Joe Biden housed in five United States military bases for the duration of 2021 until in the early 2022 months, taxpayers paid $189 million in damage to the bases as a federal report shows.
After the U.S. Armed Forces' departure from Afghanistan at the end of August in 2021, Biden established a pipeline for refugees which has resettled over 86,000 Afghans in American communities, some without being screened or interviewed in person.
A large number of Afghans were initially housed in 8 U.S. military bases, including 50,000 who were assigned to Fort Bliss in Texas, Fort Lee in Virginia, Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, Fort Pickett in Virginia, and Camp Atterbury in Indiana.
The officials at these five U.S. bases, according to an Department of Defense Inspector General (DOD IG) report, found nearly $189 million of damages that taxpayers will be required to pay the cost to repair.
According to what Wisconsin Right Now first reported, Fort McCoy saw the highest cost in terms of the damages that came with the housing of more than 12,700 Afghans who were housed in Fort McCoy.
In all, Afghans caused more than $145 million in damage to the base. This included issues with ceilings, walls, flooring, doors, bathrooms, electrical systems, plumbing and heating, ventilation cooling, exterior siding, as well as the majority of the barracks at the base.
In Fort Bliss, Afghans housed at the base caused $575,000 of damage to beds and mattresses. While in Fort Lee, there was $332,000 of damage to floors, ceiling tiles, floors, and electrical systems.
In addition, at Fort Pickett, Afghans caused more than $26 million of damage to doors, walls, plumbing, the HVAC system, fire alarms and other items. Damages to Camp Atterbury totaled $16 million to repair furniture and mattresses in addition to repairing windows, floors, doors, fire alarms, plumbing and landscaping of the grounds.
