We must protect the Afghan allies who risked their lives for us

Every day, Hadiya, a 22-year-old Afghan refugee who came to the U.S. legally, worries about being deported back to Afghanistan, a fate she says would amount to a death sentence. 

Last year, she and her family fell into a panic as the Taliban returned to power. Her father, who worked for the army and had previously been a journalist at the U.S.-supported Radio Azadi (formerly Radio Free Afghanistan) in Kabul, became an immediate target. Her sister held a high-profile position in the Interior Ministry, putting her in the crosshairs too. They watched as the Taliban arrested and dragged away scores of colleagues and friends.  

After a harrowing, months-long journey to flee the country, she and her family eventually reached safety in the U.S. and were settled in Harrisburg, Pa.  

Through a $1 million partnership between the Jewish Federations of North America and the Shapiro Foundation that has helped Jewish community organizations to resettle over 1,900 Afghan evacuees across 15 communities and 12 states, she got a job in the early childhood department of the local Jewish Community Center.  

But the “humanitarian parole” program that allowed her to enter the U..S has an expiration date, which Hadiya fears could jeopardize her safety.   

Her situation is all too common. Since last year, over 79,000 displaced Afghans like Hadiya have come to the United States. During America’s 20+ year-long war effort, allies like her and her family risked their lives as they enabled U.S. troops to gather intelligence, direct battlefield operations, and try to circumvent the Taliban. Their efforts helped save the lives of many Americans, and our government promised that they would be kept safe.  

But the process wasn’t easy. Tens of thousands of Afghans trapped abroad attempted to file for humanitarian parole applications to come to the U.S. and either had to wait months to hear back or were rejected outright.  

Last week, a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request revealed that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the federal agency responsible for overseeing the humanitarian parole process, has approved just 123 Afghans out of a total of 66,000 applications for humanitarian parole — fewer than 2 percent of all applications filed.  

Now, as the U.S. marks one year since the official end of the U.S. mission, the majority of Afghan evacuees like Hadiya who made it to our shores have another major hurdle to overcome: they lack a path to permanent residency or citizenship.  

Humanitarian parole typically expires after just one or two years, putting them face-to-face with the possibility of deportation back to Afghanistan and certain persecution by the Taliban. In the meantime, their lives are on hold, with many of them experiencing severe difficulties in finding housing, employment, and mental health care.  

Congress has a path to solve this problem.  

The Afghan Adjustment Act, a vital new piece of bipartisan legislation introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, will allow Afghan evacuees who undergo an additional round of security vetting to apply for a permanent pathway to residency. If their applications are approved, Afghan evacuees will no longer face deportation, the delays and uncertainty of asylum applications, and the cloud of legal limbo that has hung over their resettlement.  

Congress has passed similar legislation for other wartime populations, such as the South Vietnamese in 1975, who needed to be evacuated to our shores when the U.S. pulled out of their country. The Afghans are no different. 

The Afghan Adjustment Act would be just a first step in fulfilling our obligation to refugees. The situation is equally dire for the Ukrainians who have recently arrived here. Since the invasion of Ukraine began, over 150,000 Ukrainians have come to the U.S. seeking refuge. Most were admitted through the same humanitarian parole mechanism used to bring Afghan evacuees into the country. All currently lack any pathway to remaining in the United States following the expiration of their temporary status.  

Congress can send a message to our Afghan allies—now neighbors—that they are welcome here and that we are making good on our promise to take care of them just as they took care of our troops in Afghanistan.  

We must not let them down. 

Darcy Hirsh is the Managing Director, Public Affairs, for the Jewish Federations of North America