Afghan Refugees Headed for El Paso

State of Texas Prepositioning Refrigerated Trailers

Couple of eyecatchers in the national press, the federal government is sending plane loads of Afghan refugees to Fort Bliss in El Paso, and Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, saying both locations have the capacity to receive them, and expand to take more if necessary.

Reports out of Houston indicate the initial amount coming to Fort Bliss will be about 300, with more expected to follow. If you’ve ever been out that way on I-10 headed into New Mexico, you probably know that it’s no exaggeration to say the place has plenty of elbow room. Fort Bliss sits in the middle of acres and acres of open territory. It’s not uncommon to see Stryker armored fighting vehicles rumbling around and kicking up dust behind the fences along the highway, in the flatlands that are only broken up by the railroad and occasional cactus.

Incidentally, the Army says they’re getting ready to receive the first laser-armed Strykers. What? Yeah. You’re not having a stroke, it’s real.

“Our DE-M SHORAD rapid prototyping effort is on track to deliver the Army's first combat-capable directed energy system — and it's a 50-kilowatt class laser — to protect divisions in brigade combat teams against unmanned aircraft systems, rotary- and fixed-wing threats, and rocket artillery and mortars,” said Marcia Holmes, deputy director of hypersonics, directed energy, space and rapid acquisition at the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office.

That quote and photo comes from “NationalDefenseMagazine.org.” According to them these laser-armed vehicles could be bombing around in the Texas desert by 2022. At least, that’s what one assumes, as the premier Stryker equipped unit is at Fort Bliss. Theoretically, they could deliver them to any Army base.

What a strange juxtaposition. Afghani refugees fleeing almost iron age barbarism, potentially sharing space with Buck Rogers toys.

Here’s a question: If Afghan refugees can be corralled in a couple army bases, couldn’t asylum seekers crossing the Texas border see the same? One can imagine a few reasons why or why not. Probably the only one worth considering is the fact there’s thousands and thousands of people crossing the border from Mexico, and it would be all but impossible to build a tent city fast enough for all of them. Does that mean we shouldn’t try? Wouldn’t we only be trying to house those with seemingly valid asylum claims? What would those numbers look like? How would you even be able to tell who has a valid claim in a short, actionable amount of time, anyway?

According to Fox News, the numbers for the month of July are astronomical. They’re citing the number of “total encounters” nationwide. So, this would include not just Texas, but every state impacted by illegal immigration: 212,672. That’s one single month, up 13% from June, they say. If only 1% of those folks were dangerous, whether by virtue of Covid or some other disease— or a criminal record, that would still be 212 people, in one month.

One thing that shouldn’t surprise anyone: When and if the Afghan refugees come to Fort Bliss and are processed and perhaps later released to some other location, there will be those who will suggest repurposing the facilities there for the use of illegal border crossers. And there will be those who will call it barbarous to do so.

Other eye catching news: The State of Texas is prepositioning 5 refrigerated trailers in San Antonio, expecting to eventually need them for deployment to whatever border cities request them.

"We haven't gotten any local requests, but we want to be ready with the COVID cases in the state," Department of State Health Services Chris Van Deusen told NBC News Monday, "We didn't want to wait.”

The refrigerated trailers come from FEMA. They are useful for situations where local morgues and mortuaries are overwhelmed with dead bodies.