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Few Afghan refugees have been approved for asylum as Congress continues to stall on bill [1]
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Date: 2022-10-11
“While Congress in 2021 required [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] to process asylum requests from Afghan evacuees within five months, most cases remain unresolved,” CBS News reported. “As of Oct. 2, 460 asylum petitions from Afghans had been approved and two had been rejected, representing a 99% approval rate for completed cases, the [Department of Homeland Security] data show.”
The report said that USCIS has also received more than 9,200 green card requests from special immigrant visa-qualifying refugees. Of those, 1,500 have been approved and 17 have been rejected. CBS News said that while it showed a portion of refugees looking to ways to gain relief, “they also illustrate that the vast majority of evacuees continue to live in the U.S. with the tenuous and temporary parole classification more than a year after the start of the evacuations.”
The Afghan Adjustment Act could provide permanent status, allowing “eligible Afghans to apply for lawful permanent residence after one year or two years of U.S. physical presence, respectively, and after clearing additional background checks,” refugee resettlement agency Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service said.
The bill has GOP co-sponsors in both chambers, including Lindsey Graham, Roy Blunt, and Lisa Murkowski, but it was also Republicans who stymied an effort by the Biden administration to pass the act as part of the Ukraine package in May. This could have been law months ago had they actually aided in an effort they claim to support. But as previously noted here at Daily Kos, all three also voted for an amendment from Tom Cotton last year that targeted these same refugees. Advocates have nevertheless continued pressuring GOP lawmakers, including holding 24-hour protests outside the U.S. Capitol.
x 1200 #FireWatch Update: We’re here at @senrobportman @robportman Columbus, OH office. His office was instrumental in supporting Ohio veterans during the #AfghanEvac. We want to thank them for their efforts & win their support for the #AfghanAdjustmentAct. #FinishTheMission pic.twitter.com/FaRrRd86R8 — AAAFireWatch (@AAAFireWatch) October 11, 2022
x We made phone calls with our volunteers this afternoon to urge Congress to pass the #AfghanAdjustmentAct! Join us in taking action for tens of thousands of Afghans who deserve a pathway to permanent status
https://t.co/soBOmsLnkM — Project ANAR (@project_anar) September 21, 2022
During a Washington, D.C., rally in support of the proposed legislation this past February, “Lucky,” a former Afghan translator who received a special visa after surviving numerous blasts while aiding U.S. military, urged lawmakers to extend that same kind of permanent relief to other vulnerable people.
“I served with U.S. forces in Afghanistan and arrived in the United States on a Special Immigrant Visa in 2017. They call me Lucky because I’ve gotten blown up twice and I still have all my fingers and toes,” he said at the time. “I’m here today to ask Congress for their help. We need to pass an Afghan Adjustment Act so that my new friends and neighbors can have the American dream I am enjoying today.”
U.S Marine veteran Joseph Dietzel wrote in Military Times last month that others are also deserving of the same kind of relief given to his interpreter. Dietzel writes he and Mustafa Aahangaran became “practically inseparable” during their mission in Afghanistan. When Aahangaran applied for relief, he and his family even lived with Dietzel for some time. “These people are beyond deserving to resettle in the U.S,” Dietzel said. “They’ve [sacrificed] more for this country than most people I know.”
“It's past time for Congress to ensure evacuated Afghans find lasting safety in the U.S.,” tweeted the International Refugee Assistance Project. “These folks were promised this, and if they go back they will likely be killed,” Nasreen Sajady, advocacy director for the Afghan Cultural Society, told Sahan Journal. “If it doesn’t pass and they can’t get their green cards, this is life or death for many of these people.”
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