First Afghan refugees arrive at temporary housing facility in Virginia

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Wednesday the first group of Afghan refugees have arrived at a temporary housing facility in Virginia.

The group was placed at the National Conference Center in Leesburg, Va., DHS said, seven months after the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan and it fell to the Taliban, The Associated Press reported. 

The group consists of 300 individuals who arrived overseas on Tuesday, with the facility able to hold 1,000, a DHS spokesman said.

The refugees will stay there until private resettlement groups are able to find them a more permanent home in the U.S., according to the AP. The goal is to have them stay at the temporary facility for two to four weeks.

“We will continue to work closely with state and local partners to ensure we can continue to resettle our Afghan allies as quickly, safely, and successfully as possible,” Robert Fenton, the official in charge of Operation Allies Welcome, said.

The DHS said the group at the facility has already been screened for medical and security assurances overseas before they arrived, the AP noted.

While at the facility, they will be educated on U.S. laws and complete immigration applications, Fenton said. 

The U.S. has been working for months to assist Afghan refugees as thousands fled Afghanistan after the Taliban took over. 

The U.N. said in a report this week that the Taliban have killed more than 400 civilians since the U.S. withdrew from the country. 

The Hill has reached out to DHS for comment.