CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. — As millions of Ukrainian refugees head for the border, 13News wanted to know if Camp Atterbury might play a role in resettling some of them.
NOTE: The above video is from an interview with the director of IU's Center for Refugee Studies.
Last year, the base in Johnson County hosted more than 5,000 Afghan evacuees as part of Operation Allies Refuge.
It was touted as an ideal place to temporarily house families until they could find homes.
So, is Atterbury poised to do it again?
“Never say never,” said Elizabeth Cullen Dunn, Director of Indiana University’s Center for Refugee Studies. “But I don’t think so.”
Dunn said this situation is different.
RELATED: As her family remains trapped in Ukraine, Columbus community rallies around Olesya's Kitchen owner
“The military bases that were used as refugee camps [for Afghans] were used because people had to be evacuated so quickly and there were so many of them,” Dunn said. “So there wasn’t time to put them in individual houses, and most of them did not have family here [in the U.S.].”
Dunn said most Ukrainian refugees are finding shelter in homes across Europe and will likely stay there. She added that those Ukrainians who do seek refugee status in the United States will most likely travel here to live with relatives.
"We’ll have time for Ukrainians to apply one by one and for their family members to welcome them,” she said. “So I don’t think we’ll have a need for Atterbury.”
Camp Atterbury's commander told 13News on Wednesday that they have gotten no indication to plan for or take in refugees from Ukraine.