US Lawmakers Fail to Pass Afghan Adjustment Act by Year’s End

A major bill that would provide a path to permanent residency for tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees has not received enough support to pass the US Congress, but lawmakers on Tuesday proposed an additional 4,000 visas for Afghans.

“While I am frustrated that the partisan filibuster required a last-minute solution, I am relieved that we have an agreement to extend authorization for the Afghan SIV program and that this bill provides an additional 4,000 visas,” said Democratic Sen. Jean Shaheen, one of the leading advocates for Afghan evacuees, in a statement Tuesday.

An estimated 80,000 Afghans fled the country during the chaotic US military sortie from Afghanistan in August 2021. Many were eligible for the SIV (Special Immigrant Visas, in Spanish) program because of their work for the United States, but were unable to obtain legal permission to travel to the country through the system, which is complicated and slow. .

Instead, they were granted a two-year temporary “humanitarian probation.” If passed, the Afghan Adjustment Act would provide Afghan evacuees a path to permanent residence in the United States before their humanitarian parole expires.

The proposal had broad support among Senate Democrats and some Republicans.

“Our bipartisan bill fulfills a moral obligation to the men and women who sacrificed in support of America’s mission by assisting American troops and diplomats,” Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said when the legislation was introduced in August. “This effort is urgent as their situation grows increasingly desperate; these at-risk Afghans deserve a clear path to citizenship”

In a letter to the leaders of Congress, first obtained by the US news network last weekend, two dozen former US military leaders said that if the bill did not pass, the United States would be “less secure.”

“As military professionals, it was and remains our duty to prepare for future conflicts. We assure you that in any such conflict, potential allies will remember what is happening now with our Afghan allies,” the letter reads.

But the legislation has failed to secure the support of at least ten Republican senators, necessary for passage in the Senate.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and others oppose the legislation over security concerns. In September, the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General found that the United States may have admitted Afghan citizens who were not sufficiently vetted.

“Once again, another independent watchdog confirms that the investigation of those admitted to the United States in the wake of President Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan has been completely inadequate,” Grassley said in a statement about the report.

Incoming House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, both Republicans, have vowed to conduct investigations into the Biden administration’s handling. of the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the failure to provide SIV to the Afghans.

“The Urgent Action of the Secretary [Antony] blinken and the president [Joe] Biden to fix the significant problems within the SIV program is necessary and long overdue. The United States pledged to stand with those who bravely fought alongside our troops, risking their lives for our country,” McCaul said in an Oct. 27, 2022 statement.

McCaul told the US news publication The New Republic earlier this year, which was still reviewing the text of the proposal.

Not including the initiative in this year’s government budget bill all but guarantees that it will not pass the US House of Representatives in its current form when Republicans assume a majority in the new Congress next month. . Tens of thousands of Afghans face the prospect of returning to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan when their parole expires in 2023.

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