Great news — the Biden administration is preparing to
relocate tens of thousands of our Afghan allies, who aided U.S. troops and civilian efforts, to safe locations outside Afghanistan as the U.S. withdraws.
Together, we have been urging the administration for weeks to devise a plan to evacuate current Afghan SIV applicants, their family members, and any allies who would be eligible for humanitarian protection in the U.S. to a safe location – and our advocacy has paid off. Afghan allies and their families will relocate to safe third countries while their U.S. visa applications are processed. It remains unclear where applicants would wait, which countries have agreed to take them, or when evacuations will take place.
Since U.S. military and civilian personnel first touched down in Afghanistan 20 years ago, tens of thousands of Afghan nationals have provided support — interpreting for U.S. military officers, aiding diplomats and implementing aid programs, to name a few.
Many of those who helped the U.S. received death threats from the Taliban, and once the U.S. has fully withdrawn, their lives would have been at even greater risk.
Protecting our Afghan allies will reinforce for the world that the United States keeps its promises. But the work isn’t over yet. While many of these Afghans are eligible for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs), applicants currently face a backlog of more than 18,000, in addition to an estimated 53,000 family members. Given the SIV backlog and lengthy application process, Congress must expedite legislation and the administration should consider using humanitarian parole to facilitate the evacuation to provide immediate relief.
Thanks for all you do for our immigrant and refugee neighbors,
Dan Kosten
Assistant Vice President of Policy & Advocacy
National Immigration Forum
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