URGENT ACTION: Tell Congress to Equip Our Communities to Welcome Afghans Seeking Safety and Protection

Background: Communities ready to welcome refugees and help them integrate and thrive are preparing to assist 75,000 vulnerable Afghans who have been evacuated from Afghanistan. From August 17 until September 1, approximately 48,000 Afghan evacuees who were in imminent danger arrived in the United States, and we expect tens of thousands of more arrivals in the coming weeks. Most of our new Afghan neighbors are entering the United States with “humanitarian parole,” which is temporary immigration relief and does not make them automatically eligible for refugee resettlement services. We need Congress to take action this month to ensure Afghan evacuees receive resettlement and integration services and have the chance to apply for legal permanent residence -- and to ensure that our communities have the resources they need to provide these services. Join us today to ensure that Afghan arrivals can rebuild their lives in safety.

Contact Your Senators and Representative Today!

Subject:

Please Equip Our Communities to Welcome Afghans Seeking Safety and Protection

Dear Official,

I’m your constituent from [CITY/TOWN] and [as a person of faith/refugee], I urge you to equip our communities with the resources we need to welcome our Afghan neighbors and help them integrate and thrive. Congress should immediately authorize Afghans entering the United States with humanitarian parole to receive full refugee resettlement benefits, provide supplemental funding for the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the State Department, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Department of Justice to have the resources they need to serve Afghan arrivals, and provide an opportunity for Afghans to apply for legal permanent residence. I call on you to:

1. Authorize Afghans Arriving on Humanitarian Parole to Receive Refugee Resettlement Services
We urgently seek congressional authorization to ensure all Afghan parolees have access to the same resettlement services as refugees who are resettled through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). Resettlement services include refugee medical assistance, English-language classes, housing assistance, job training, and helping children enroll in school.

2. Appropriate Supplemental Funding to Serve Afghan Arrivals
We are facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, and we have an opportunity to ensure that there are robust pathways to protection to help displaced Afghans. As we welcome Afghans who have been forced from their homes because of affiliation with the U.S. mission and are in life-threatening danger to safety in the United States, it is critical that the federal agencies who serve refugees and SIVs, and the communities that welcome them, have the resources they need.

3. Pass an Afghan Adjustment Act
We call on Congress to pass legislation that would allow Afghan parolees who are being evacuated from Afghanistan to have an opportunity to seek legal permanent residence. These parolees are fleeing violence and persecution and deserve an opportunity to rebuild their lives in safety -- and without the fear and limitations associated with uncertain immigration status. This is also critical because Afghans were advised to destroy documents associating them to the U.S. mission and other information that would otherwise be used to pursue an asylum claim.

My community welcomes vulnerable Afghans seeking refuge, and I urge you to do the same.

Regards, Your Name

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Sample Script:

“I’m your constituent from [CITY/TOWN] and [as a person of faith/refugee], I urge you to call on the administration to expand and expedite life-saving refugee protections for Afghans fleeing violence and persecution. It is imperative that as the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan, the administration expands and expedites access to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) by increasing “Priority 1” referrals of Afghan refugees to USRAP, urgently implements the “Priority 2” direct access program for groups of Afghans of special humanitarian concern to the United States (with both in-country and third-country processing) which was announced on August 2nd, and surges adjudication and processing resources to assist these refugees. These pathways should include, at minimum, family members of U.S. government employees, U.S. government employees not covered by the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, and other at-risk populations such as activists, journalists, religious and ethnic minorities, and humanitarian workers.

It is equally important that the administration simultaneously and urgently evacuate all Afghan allies, and their loved ones, who assisted the U.S. mission in Afghanistan to U.S. territory. We welcome the news that the U.S. government is evacuating approximately 2,500 Afghan allies and their family members to Fort Lee, Virginia to complete security screening and immigration processing — but it is a small first step. It is vital that all of our Afghan allies (18,000 plus about 53,000 family members) be flown to U.S. territory and have their immigration applications expeditiously completed as well. The U.S. has done this before, and we must do it now.”