United States of America eSeries: 'It's still a very desirable place to live'

'It's still a very desirable place to live'

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August 26, 2021

Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu

'It's still a very desirable place to live'

The plight of the thousands of refugees airlifted out of Kabul is heart-wrenching. But not everyone is ready to offer shelter in the United States.

While a majority of Americans, 81% in a recent CBS poll, think the US should support Afghans who worked for American troops and officials, their exodus offers an opening to extremist Republicans keen to pose as the defenders of White America. Ex-President Donald Trump is already conducting a symphony of grievance.

"You can be sure the Taliban … didn't allow the best and brightest to board these evacuation flights," Trump said in a statement — invoking his first campaign speech in 2015, when he said Mexico was sending "rapists" and not its "best" people. "We can only imagine how many thousands of terrorists have been airlifted out of Afghanistan and into neighborhoods around the world," Trump said. "What a terrible failure. NO VETTING. How many terrorists will Joe Biden bring to America?"

In fact, the Biden administration is taking stringent steps to vet Afghans brought to the US. One reason why a frantic airlift was needed when Kabul fell is that the hoops that eligible visa applicants had to jump through took so long.

But that's not enough for J.D. Vance, author of "Hillbilly Elegy," a book profiling rural Americans that was hailed as a primer for elites mystified by Trump. Vance -- who is now running for the US Senate from Ohio -- has shed his bookish airs and is appealing to Trump's nativist base, with a racist warning against welcoming people who might "blow themselves up at a mall."

Many Afghans seeking evacuation now have already risked their lives for the US. And lax US gun laws also mean you're more likely to die in a mass shooting at a mall than succumb to a suicide bomber. But as Trump showed, demagoguery against immigrants can win votes.

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'It's still a very desirable place to live'

Climate change be damned, more Americans are flocking to areas that face increased wildfire, heat and hurricane risks than ever before, writes CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich of a new analysis by real estate brokerage Redfin.

"Redfin analyzed data from ClimateCheck, a real estate climate risk assessment provider, and the US Census, which showed that of the top 50 US counties facing climate risks in heat, storms, drought, flood and fire -- the majority saw an increase in population over the last five years.

"Counties with homes facing the highest heat risk saw populations increase by an average of 4.7% over the last five years. Counties with homes facing high drought risk saw population growth of 3.5%, fire risk counties grew by 3%, flood 1.9%, and storm 0.4% over the last five years.

"Meanwhile, places with relatively low climate risks have experienced population declines. The 50 counties with the lowest number of homes facing heat risk, for example, saw a population loss of 1.4% in the last five years, according to Redfin.

"Counties around New York City and Chicago -- both in states that were already leading the US in population decline -- only lost more people during the pandemic when homebuyers left metro areas in exodus, according to Redfin.

"For example, migration to Wasatch County, Utah, just outside Salt Lake City, is up almost 15% in the last five years. But Wasatch County has the third-highest fire risk in the US, with 96% of the homes there at risk, according to Redfin. The area became even more popular in the last year amid the pandemic, with people looking for affordability, more space and proximity to the outdoors.

" '2020 saw some of the worst wildfires we've ever seen in Utah,' said Ryan Aycock, agent and market manager for Redfin in Salt Lake City. 'I don't necessarily believe that it's going to slow down the people moving into the area. It's still extremely affordable. It's still a very desirable place to live compared to a lot of places.' "

Thanks for reading.

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to the White House. Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Vietnamese civil society leaders. And 380 Afghans who worked with the South Korean government will arrive in Seoul by military aircraft.