Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, along with former First Ladies Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama, are the honorary co-chairs of the Welcome.US group.
Approximately 17% of those who have already arrived are US citizens and legitimate permanent residents and can go to their destinations without first going through military bases. The rest, however, will go to the bases to receive a medical examination, including vaccines against Covid-19, before they are moved to communities across the country.
Welcome.US has brought together former presidents – as well as a group of bipartisan governors, including Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, and Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, and other leaders – to serve as a central point of contact for the public and private efforts to aid in the massive effort to help Afghan refugees as they establish lives in the US. It will connect and coordinate efforts between state and local governments, as well as nonprofits, corporations, universities, and others, according to the group.
It will provide grants to nonprofits and launch a six-figure advertising campaign “to highlight the need for all Americans to join the thousands of people who have already stepped up to welcome our new neighbors.” Afghans as they establish and build their new lives. ” Also among these efforts, according to the group in the press release, is housing support through Airbnb; meals through Instacart; grants from Walmart, Starbucks and Microsoft; and Facebook advertising credits to promote the organization.
“Thousands of Afghans were with us on the front lines to push for a safer world and now they need our help,” the Bushmen said in a statement about the organization. “We are proud to support Welcome.US and work to help Afghan families settle down and build new lives. We are ready to show our new Afghan neighbors and the rest of the world a welcoming and generous spirit that it makes our country so fantastic. “
It was not immediately clear whether former Presidents Donald Trump or Jimmy Carter had been invited to participate in the effort and a spokesman for the group did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Clinton and Obama joined President Joe Biden on Saturday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City. Bush spoke at another Sept. 11 observance event in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, alongside Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump, however, commemorated the twentieth anniversary in a short video in which he praised the first attendees and insulted Biden for managing the withdrawal from Afghanistan, before commenting on a boxing match.
“There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home,” Bush said Saturday. “But in their contempt for pluralism, in their contempt for human life, in their determination to contaminate national symbols, they are children of the same evil spirit,” an apparent reference to the violent insurrection at the United States Capitol on 6 January.
It is not the first crisis effort in which former presidents have united for a common cause.
Bush and Clinton met in 2005 to raise funds for those affected by the tsunami in Indonesia and in 2010 to establish the Haiti Clinton-Bush Fund to help with long-term recovery after a catastrophic earthquake in that nation.