Hundreds of Afghan refugees have stayed at this Hyatt Regency in Bethesda, county officials confirmed Wednesday.
This story was updated at. 12:50 on December 23, 2021 to include a comment from Katherine Morris, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Health and Human Services.
Hundreds of Afghan refugees have been staying at the Hyatt Regency in Bethesda in recent months while receiving medical treatment, county officials said Wednesday.
In October, a county official told Bethesda Beat that 37 refugees were being accommodated at the Bethesda Hyatt on Wisconsin Avenue.
On Wednesday, county officials confirmed in a news briefing that hundreds of refugees have stayed at the Hyatt, even though they did not have a specific number.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security asked the county’s Office of Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security to reserve up to 200 beds, Oscar Mensah said at the time. Mensah, a social service worker, is the acting head of children, youth and family services in the county’s health and human services department.
Since October, Mary Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, has asked a Bethesda Beat reporter to contact the state Department of Human Services.
Earlier this month, Katherine Morris, a spokeswoman for the department, referred a reporter generel information on the resettlement process across the country. On Thursday, she wrote in an email that “refugee placement is identified and carried out at the federal level, not at the state or county level.”
County Director Marc Elrich and James Bridgers, the county’s acting health officer, said Wednesday that the refugees who are still there are receiving medical treatment.
Bridgers said officials from the county Department of Health and Human Services also provide family support and other services and are briefed about every week or two by the state Department of Health and the Department of Human Services.
Elrich said he supports Hyatt’s ability to house refugees while receiving medical care. He said Montgomery County and the United States are helping refugees who helped the United States and fled their country before and during the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“I do not understand anyone who has a problem with them, god forbid, being in a hotel here while receiving hospital treatment … after what these people have been through on our behalf,” Elrich said. “So I know they are there. It does not bother me that they are there.”
But Reardon Sullivan, chairman of the Republican Central Committee in Montgomery County, said he was concerned about the hotel, which houses refugees who could have coronavirus or other unknown health conditions, and how it could endanger county residents.
He contacted Bethesda Beat after Laura Ingraham, who hosts a program on Fox News, issued a segment about refugees staying at the hotel and some of the children enrolled in local schools. Ingraham called for transparency about the situation and where else it could happen, saying “it’s time for a response.”
Sullivan said in an interview that it is good that the United States is supporting refugees who helped troops during the withdrawal, but it is “ironic” that Montgomery County may not consider the health status and effects of those who come here while pushing for mask mandates and a vaccine passport.
Wednesday morning, when a Bethesda Beat reporter stopped at the Hyatt Regency, it was relatively quiet, with some guests coming in and some taxis parked in front of the hotel.
In a phone call earlier the same day, Amit Verma, the hotel manager, declined to comment, citing the privacy of her guests. He directed a Bethesda Beat reporter for Operation Allies Welcome US Department of Homeland Securitys plan for incoming Afghan refugees.
A statement from Operations Allies Welcome states: “On August 29, 2021, President Biden instructed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to lead and coordinate ongoing efforts across the federal government to support vulnerable Afghans, including those who worked together. with us in Afghanistan for the last two decades, as they are likely to resettle in the United States. “
According to one press release last month from the operation’s website, more than 25,000 Afghan evacuees have resettled in the United States. In October, Mensah said about 1,400 were expected in Maryland, and of those, up to 700 could go through the county’s resettlement offices.
Sean O’Donnell, the county’s public health chief, said Wednesday that there have been “several cohorts” of refugees coming through the Hyatt Regency in Bethesda, but he did not have a specific figure on how many are still there and where many are working with external agencies to find more permanent housing.
Chris Cram, a spokesman for Montgomery County Public Schools, wrote in an email that the International Admissions Office has enrolled 34 students from Afghanistan, out of a total of more than 1,900 international students.
“The Office of International Admissions provides and coordinates a wide range of support for newly arrived families to facilitate their arrival in MCPS and the county,” Cram wrote in an email about MCPS ‘role for Afghan refugees in schools. “If it is not a direct function of MCPS, they connect them with county or other local support agencies.”
The Office of Refugee Refugees in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to an email or call for comment Thursday.
Steve Bohnel can be reached at steve.bohnel@bethesdamagazine.com
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