Two years since the United States completed the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, around 80,000 Afghan evacuees in the U.S. remain in limbo.

Efforts to pass the bipartisan Afghan Adjustment Act have stalled because of opposition from a single senator, Rebecca Beitsch reports in The Hill. "[T]here’s no pathway for [resettled Afghans] to apply for permanent status," said Helal Massomi, an evacuee and now the Afghan policy adviser for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. "And I think that’s not keeping a promise to allies of 20 years of war."

In Whitney Shefte’s video for The Washington Post, Afghan evacuees — many still separated from family members — share their frustrations. For just a taste of local perspectives, tune in to pieces by Nadeen Abusada of News 5 Cleveland and Cathy Wurzer, Alanna Elder and Gretchen Brown of Minnesota Public Radio.

Throughout the past two years, Americans have continued to welcome our new Afghan neighbors:

KSL continues to feature the stories of Afghan evacuees — and Utahns’ welcome — on its "Stranger Becomes Neighbor" podcast. The two most recent episodes feature a female former elite Afghan soldier and the connections determined volunteers have made with new arrivals. (Andrea Smardon, KSL)
People who fled Ukraine as well as Afghanistan are finding welcome and hope in North Dakota. (Mark Martin, Christian Broadcasting Network)
Afghanistan war veteran John Moses is launching the Massachusetts Afghan Alliance as a bridge between local support efforts and resettlement agencies, "to ensure ‘better outcomes for Afghan families.’ " (Cameron Morsberger, Lowell Sun)

We’re pausing the Daily one more Friday and will be catching up Tuesday, so we’ll be back in your inbox Wednesday. Welcome to Thursday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Clara Villatoro, Jillian Clark, Ashling Lee and Katie Lutz. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].

FASTER DEPORTATIONS — The Biden administration’s Family Expedited Removal Management program is meant "to quickly sort out which families can clear its asylum standards, which were tightened recently, and give a final answer to those who can’t," Alicia A. Caldwell and Michelle Hackman report in The Wall Street Journal. In practice, it is keeping some families out of detention, thanks to the use of ankle monitors — and resulting in quicker deportations, raising due process concerns.

THE CHURCH — Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio discusses the Catholic tradition of aiding migrants and refugees while addressing false claims in a piece for The Boston Pilot. The church does not advocate for open borders but rather supports legal pathways for migration, he writes: "the Church's work assisting migrants is to make up for the failures of the government, which refuses to enact just immigration laws."

FARM LABOR — Workers here on H-2A visas compose up to 15% of the farm workforce and are becoming more important — despite the visa program’s challenges, report Andrea Hsu and Ximena Bustillo of NPR. For farmers, H-2A visas require money and effort, while advocates have raised concerns about employers breaking rules and exploiting migrant workers. We’d note that the Farm Workforce Modernization Act would help.

UNFILLED — Elected officials and business leaders in Illinois are the latest to call for faster work permits for asylum seekers and other would-be workers, reports Hannah Meisel of Capitol News Illinois. This plea comes as thousands of job openings in fields such as transportation and health care go unfilled in the state.

Thanks for reading,

Dan