MOHAMMAD — This week President Biden announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, leaving questions around what will happen to the 17,000 Afghans who have aided U.S. efforts and are waiting for their Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applications to be processed. The Atlantic’s George Packer compares the situation for these Afghan citizens to that of Vietnamese citizens who supported the U.S. in the 1970s (whom then-Senator Biden opposed protections for). "Biden failed to see a moral obligation in 1975," Packer writes. "Today he can learn from the mistake and redeem it."  The case of one Afghan man who aided American forces, identified by the pseudonym "Mohammad," clarifies the urgency of the situation: While waiting for his SIV after serving as an interpreter and adviser alongside U.S. troops and officials, Mohammad was killed by the Taliban in January, J.P. Lawrence at Stars and Stripes writes — and his family continues to receive threats as their application remains unprocessed. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Massachusetts), a Marine veteran, said in a statement: "This person paid the ultimate price for our nation because we failed him. The least we can do now is ensure his widow and children are able to come to America and to the safety that is found within our borders."  

MIDWEST — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) announced Wednesday that the state "won't be taking any illegal immigrants that the Biden Administration wants to relocate," reports KELOLAND News. (To be clear, the "illegal immigrants" she’s referring to are unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border seeking safety. And just a reminder: Seeking asylum, regardless of age, is legal.) Gov. Noem's message to these children? "Call me when you’re an American." In response to a similar position taken by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R), who said the issue of unaccompanied minors is "not our problem," Storm Lake Times editor Art Cullen calls the situation these children are facing "a mockery of Iowa and all that we stood for. … Those children could find some comfort in their exodus in Storm Lake, Denison and Marshalltown. There are Guatemalans in Storm Lake who no doubt would open their arms to them. Hondurans, too. If only the governor would allow it." 

NO BAN — The House Judiciary Committee advanced two bills Wednesday morning that would offer protections to individuals seeking to enter the U.S., reports Jennifer Doherty of Law360. The National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act "would prohibit religious discrimination and limit the president's authority to bar individuals from entering the U.S. based on their nationality," Doherty explains, while the Access to Counsel Act of 2021 would allow travelers (both foreign and U.S. citizens) who are detained for additional inspection to contact legal counsel. The bills, which "[strengthen] a Democratic push to prevent future travel bans like those imposed by former President Donald Trump," passed the House last July, but never became law. Legislation like this would have a huge impact for some families: In a heartwarming story for The Columbus Dispatch, Danae King reports that after 11 years of separation (extended in part by the Trump administration’s Muslim Ban), Somali grandfather Mohamed Salem Ali was finally able to reunite with his family on Thursday in Columbus, Ohio.