Letter on Supporting Afghan Evacuees

The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns signed the following letter to Congress urging robust support for vulnerable Afghans needing to be resettled in the United States.

September 17, 2021

Dear Members of Congress,

As 178 national, state, and local organizations, many of which have been engaged in supporting a full
evacuation of vulnerable Afghans and ongoing protection and support for those left behind, we ask for
your support to help communities in the United States be fully ready to welcome Afghan refugees and
help them integrate and thrive.

With approximately 48,000 Afghan evacuees who were in imminent danger arrived in the United States from August 17th-September 1st, and tens of thousands more arrivals expected in the coming weeks, it is critical that Congress take immediate action 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. 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 call on all Members of Congress to support the following:

1. Authorization for 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. Congress should provide a
supplementary:

• $9.68 billion for the Refugee and Entrant Assistance (REA) account is needed to fund the
Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which helps states and local communities welcome and
support refugees on their path to self-sufficiency. The anomaly request asked for $1,687,866,000
for Afghan arrivals, as well as a prorated amount based on an annualized rate of spending of
$7.99 billion for ORR’s existing populations of concern, such as refugees, unaccompanied children, trafficking survivors, torture survivors, asylees, and others.

• $2.2 billion for humanitarian assistance is needed, including:

• For the domestic reception and placement (R&P) program, administered by the Bureau of
• Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) within the Department of State.
• For overseas assistance through the Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA).
• Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA), and/or International Disaster
• Assistance (IDA) accounts, including authorities that allow funds to be transferred between or merged with accounts to provide humanitarian assistance as expeditiously as possible. This level is in line with the President’s anomaly request.

• $535 million for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) within the Department of
Homeland Security to adjudicate the thousands of various immigration services needed both in
the U.S. (such as employment authorization, asylum, and adjustment of status applications) and
abroad (such as refugee applications), while addressing the current backlog, financial solvency,
fee waivers for humanitarian parole applications for Afghan nationals, and commitment to
improving customer service. This level is in line with the President’s anomaly request.

• $21.5 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for medical support and
care for Afghan arrivals and refugees. This level is in line with the President’s anomaly request.

• $10 million for the Department of Justice Recognition & Accreditation and Legal
Orientation Program (LOP) is needed to ensure that Afghan arrivals understand their legal
rights and obligations with a basic understanding of our immigration system.

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 many 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.

We welcome vulnerable Afghans arriving in our communities and ask for your support to help them fully integrate and thrive as they adjust to their new homes. At no other time has our moral responsibility to uphold these principles been greater.

Please contact Meredith Owen at Church World Service at mowen@cwsglobal.org with any questions.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

Sincerely,