Why Afghan Refugees Aren’t Actually Welcome in California

The city of Fremont, California, home of the Tesla manufacturing plant, is located 50 minutes southeast of San Francisco. In addition to being a popular bedroom community for well-to-do tech employees, Fremont is home to what is likely the largest community of Afghan immigrants in the United States. Official counts have found as many as 5,000 Afghans in the area known as “Little Kabul,” but the unofficial—and probably more accurate—number is closer to 30,000.

So you’d think that American diplomats and relocation-assistance programs would identify Fremont as an ideal destination for the incoming wave of Afghan refugees.

Instead, the State Department has warned Afghans away from not just Fremont but all coastal California cities. Last week, the State Department released that it deems suitable for Afghans who, such as interpreters or others who have assisted the U.S. government. In a telling indictment of California’s housing policies, not one of the 19 cities considered affordable for refugees were in the nation’s most populous state. A very limited exception was granted to the inland capital, Sacramento, but it came with a warning about a “.” Like in so many California neighborhoods, the average rent for a two-bedroom home in the Afghan-heavy Sacramento community of North Highlands has doubled in .