FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 15, 2022

Afghan Adjustment Act Gains Major Endorsements Including Senators, Veteran Labor Org

Sen. Moran (R-KS), Wicker (R-MS), Leahy (D-VT), Shaheen (D-NH), Union Veterans Council, Wall Street Journal Endorse Bipartisan Bill this Week

Washington DC – U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-KS), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and the United Veterans Council, AFL-CIO, are among several high profile endorsements now backing the Afghan Adjustment Act, the nonprofit group #AfghanEvac announced today. The announcement comes as urgency grows around the congressional bill, without which tens of thousands of Afghans will be left without a pathway to remaining in the U.S. after their humanitarian parole begins to expire in August 2023.

“This 11th hour outpouring of support from Republicans and Democrats in Congress is giving the Afghan Adjustment Act huge momentum at the right time, and demonstrates that Congress sees that the act has been amended to reflect their comments. These endorsements show that their constituents, Americans of all backgrounds, served in Afghanistan and want their representatives in D.C. to pass this bipartisan plan without delay, and avoid the moral and national security catastrophe that will unfold if they don’t include it in this year’s omnibus bill,” said Shawn VanDiver, Navy veteran and President of #AfghanEvac. 

The Afghan Adjustment Act has been recently updated to reflect comments from Republican members of congress, including the requirement that the Department of Homeland Security conducts in-person interviews to ensure evacuees are sufficiently vetted; that a Customs and Border Protection agency cannot satisfy the in-person interview requirement; that congress has more oversight of the vetting process before it is finalized; and and it now responds to every recommendation in recent inspector general reports, including that the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense brief congress on security concerns posed by evacuees. 

The endorsement by senators Moran, Wicker, Leahy, and Shaheen brings a total of nine co-sponsors to the bill, which will enable newly arrived Afghans to go through the immigration process, undergo a robust vetting with all necessary security reviews, and have a path forward to lawful permanent residency here in the United States. 

“Over the last year, we have heard directly from countless union veteran members on how the end of the Afghan War affected their lives, each one felt a personal commitment to the Afghan people with whom they stood shoulder to shoulder,” wrote Will Attig, executive director for Union Veterans Council, AFL-CIO, in a Tuesday letter to Speaker Pelosi and Leaders Schumer, McCarthy, and McConnel. “If the Afghan Adjustment Act is not passed the already-overwhelmed asylum and immigration court systems will face additional strain.”

“If Congress does not approve the Afghan Adjustment Act, tens of thousands of Afghans, including allies who found alongside our troops in America’s longest war, will be left in limbo,” said Chris Purdy, an army veteran and Director of Veterans for American Ideals.

“The endorsement from Union Veterans Council shows that working families are sending a message, and that message is clear: the Afghan Adjustment Act is urgent, vital, and must be passed before this session expires.” said Shawn VanDiver, Navy veteran and President of #AfghanEvac.

The Afghan Adjustment Act also received the backing of the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal.

“A fix is on Congress’s agenda, but time is running out,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote on Monday. “The solution is the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would provide a path to a green ard for those currently on humanitarian parole… [t]he U.S. has a moral obligation to do what it can to mitigate the harm of Mr. Biden’s catastrophic withdrawal, and passing the Afghan Adjustment Act would be a good start.”

The bill has also received the endorsement from the cities of Atlanta, Hayward, Sacramento and San Diego, as well as the County of Los Angeles.

The Afghan Adjustment Act, known in the House as H.R. 8685 and in the Senate as S. 4787, would mirror efforts made by the U.S. government for Vietnamese and South Asian refugees following the fall of Saigon. 

As a result of the U.S.’s hurried evacuation from Afghanistan, the vast majority of Afghan evacuees were admitted to the country on a temporary basis under “humanitarian parole,” which does not confer a direct pathway to lawful permanent residence.

In order to provide such a pathway, as the U.S. has previously done for every generation of modern wartime evacuees, the Afghan Adjustment Act would allow eligible Afghan evacuees to apply for lawful permanent residence in the U.S. after one or two years of physical presence in the country.

The more than 200 organizations that make up the non-partisan #AfghanEvac coalition work hand-in-hand with government entities and advocate for ways to provide new Afghan community members with the stability they need to resettle and thrive in their new lives here. 

For twenty years, Afghan allies worked and fought side-by-side with U.S. and allied forces through the longest war in American history. The #AfghanEvac coalition is committed to ensuring that their service, partnership, and commitment to American ideals is honored. 

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