A Call to Action: Pass the Afghan Adjustment Act

When Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, a humanitarian crisis ensued that was 20 years in the making. We saw the shocking images that came out of Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of Afghan citizens scrambled to flee the country, gripping onto American Boeing C-17s as they began their withdrawal out of the country. Over the course of the following weeks, the U.S. evacuated over 76,000 Afghans through a widespread mandate of Humanitarian Parole and less common Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs). While SIVs offer a pathway towards permanent residency, parole status only grants the right to live and work within the U.S. for two years. Without any action, hundreds of thousands of Afghan immigrants will be rendered stateless and illegal immigrants in the country which is supposed to be granting their security. If we truly hope to prevent an ensuing humanitarian crisis, then the U.S. Congress must pass the Afghan Adjustment Act today.

Introduced in August 2022 by Senator Amy Klobuchar, The Afghan Adjustment Act would restructure the immigration status of those on humanitarian parole and provide a clear trajectory towards permanent residency in the U.S. The Act allows for Afghan refugees to bypass the backlogged refugee system and apply for permanent residency on an expedited basis with limited costs and bureaucracy. As the current parole policy regulates, Afghan refugees would have to apply for asylum or SIV status once their parole is up, or face repatriation if their claim is not upheld.

It is important to recognize that many of those evacuated from Afghanistan are people who directly aided the U.S. mission over the past 20 years fighting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Many worked indirectly for the U.S. on behalf of the government, security forces, and translators, and have a well-founded fear for their life would they return to Afghanistan. As a core principle of human rights and international law, non-refoulement states that refugees cannot be forcibly repatriated somewhere where “there are substantial grounds for believing that the person would be at risk of irreparable harm upon return”.

For all the sacrifices Afghans have made for themselves and the U.S., they must be afforded the opportunity to build their own future free from persecution. This is not an argument whether the U.S. had a duty to remain in Afghanistan, but rather a duty to uplift those who fought for their own freedom and democracy.

Congress enacted similar legislation for Cuban, Vietnamese, and Iraqi refugees after past U.S. military interventions and today these communities thrive across the country. Having a sense of security gives refugees hope for the future, “a therapeutic quality that can facilitate refugees overcoming challenges”. In the absence of an Afghan Adjustment Act, Afghans living in America wake up every day uncertain of what their future holds, yet still go to work and school in hopes of building a successful new life. It is impossible for Afghan refugees to have their fundamental human rights fulfilled: the right to life, the right to work, and the right to an education, if there is no permanent structure in place that protects these rights.

It can be easy to forget that for every Afghani evacuated to the U.S., there may be a father going to work for his family, a mother taking care of her child, and a daughter going to school for the first time. For example, after restarting college in America, Oranous Koofi said that, “I feel like the luckiest girl in the world”. Congress has the opportunity to codify the right to education and permanent status for thousands of Afghan students providing a foundation towards a successful future in America. With that being said, The Afghan Adjustment Act is not just about the future. The widespread consequences of Congress’s inaction is being felt today by families across Afghanistan and the U.S. who don’t know when they will see their loved ones again. Pro bono immigration lawyers are overwhelmed, hoping to fast-track years’ worth of casework in months as the status of countless Afghans is due to expire within next year. There is an urgency of human rights activists that is nowhere to be found within Congress or the Biden administration.

An utter failure to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act would force thousands into statelessness, as nearly all fled the country without the necessary documentation to seek permanent status in another country. The Adjustment Act provides the most viable option for Afghan refugees to realise their most sacred human right of living free from fear.

A professor of mine once said that not having a policy is inherently a policy-choice itself, and I pray that as humanitarian parole expires for America’s Afghan refugees, neglect does not continue to be the policy of the U.S. government.