A bipartisan bill was finally introduced today. Advocates have been working on this bill for a year, since the Taliban entered Kabul one year ago next week.
If passed, this Act would go some way towards honoring the promises we made to Afghans in peril. It would also significantly reduce the time and expense undertaken by taxpayers and advocates in preparing and adjudicating individual applications for each Afghan already in the US to enable them to secure status. That time and money could instead be spent on completing the rigorous background checks necessary for any refugee seeking to enter and remain in the US. Passage of this Act has upside for everyone and downside for no one.
Meanwhile, the United Nations confirmed what we already knew, that human rights conditions for those living under the Taliban, particularly those whose personhood does not align with the Taliban (women, girl children, LGBTQ, minorities and those who do not strictly adhere to Islam), are dire. Despite the colossal efforts of advocates filing humanitarian parole applications for hundreds of thousands of Afghans, approval of which would have permitted those seeking to leave Afghanistan to do so, more than 99% of those applications were denied, which makes the contents of this report all the more important.
If the treatment of Afghans is important to you, consider lobbying for the passage of this bill, and sharing the UN Report widely.
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