Legislation would provide permanent residence, pathway to citizenship for Afghan evacuees
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/15/22) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today announced its support for the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would allow the tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees to apply to become lawful permanent residents one year after arrival.
TAKE ACTION: URGE YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO SUPPORT THE AFGHAN ADJUSTMENT ACT
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While the act has not yet been formally introduced, it is being championed in the U.S. House by Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and in the Senate by Senators Chris Coons (D-CT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT).
In February, the Department of Homeland Security announced that “76,000 Afghan nationals who have now joined [over 200] communities across the country.”
SEE: DHS: Operation Allies Welcome Announces Departure of All Afghan Nationals from U.S. Military Bases
About half of those 76,000 Afghan evacuees have already been granted an Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV), and can apply for permanent residency, also known as a green card, which offers a years-long pathway to U.S. citizenship.
However, some 36,000 Afghan evacuees arrived in the U.S. as humanitarian parolees – commonly referred to as a “Priority 2 (P-2) designation” – and were only granted two years of temporary residency under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP).
Afghans with a P-2 designation do not have a pathway to permanent residency or U.S. citizenship and their futures remain uncertain. The Afghan Adjustment Act would fix that.
“The United States has a moral obligation following our military withdrawal from Afghanistan to protect and ensure that every Afghan evacuee who sets foot on American soil has a pathway to permanent residency and citizenship,” said CAIR Director of Government Affairs Department Robert S. McCaw. “We cannot allow Afghan humanitarian parolees in the United States to live with the uncertainty of where they will go next once their temporary residence status expires. It is not right. It is not the American way.”
Many expected the legislation to become a part of the recently passed congressional omnibus spending bill. The Biden Administration is currently considering offering Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Afghans evacuees already in the United States, which does not offer a permanent guarantee of residence.
In January, CAIR held a news conference along with community partners to call on state and federal officials, including the Office of Refugee Resettlement, to investigate the lack of support for some 40 Afghan evacuee families temporarily housed in the Baltimore region.
Those evacuees, who have been staying in an extended stay facility as temporary housing since last October following the mass evacuations from Kabul in August 2021, are in need of healthcare (especially for pregnant mothers and new infants), documents, schooling for children, help with job placement, and other resources necessary to get settled in their new homes.
CAIR recently called for stepped-up support for the Afghan refugees but has since learned of more egregious mistreatment they are suffering, including the lack of caseworker check-ins with an elderly Afghan woman living alone who speaks no English, families being prematurely evicted even though their rooms have reportedly been paid for through February 9, and a pregnant Afghan woman expecting to deliver any day who has not been provided with basic support and prenatal care.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Coordinator Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, [email protected]