In Afghanistan, over 130,000 people who supported U.S. efforts in America’s longest war are still waiting for safety in the United States.
These people, part of about 26,000 families employed by the U.S. government or contractors, have undergone extensive vetting averaging 24 months to qualify for a special immigrant visa.
As we pass the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S. forces, however, it is obviously much longer for many.
These vetted allies still live under the rule of a sanctioned narco-terrorist organization, the Taliban, in a country where human rights are a distant memory and poverty is widespread. After years of waiting for the U.S.
to honor its promises, these families remain in peril while the United States opens its doors to other groups under a far less stringent process. In the last 12 months, less than 30,000 of our allies have made it through the process of legal immigration, while the benefits of following the rules must seem hard to grasp for those still left behind. In contrast, 160,000 people from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti came to the United States in fiscal 2023.
Through the use of a mobile application, many of them received temporary protected status and work authorization after a vetting process that took days or at most a few months. This expedited process contrasts sharply with the yearslong wait that Afghan allies are forced to endure. These migrants, who have no prior ties to the U.
S. or a personal investment in American ideal.