Failure to Include Afghan Adjustment Act Represents a Mission Unfinished and a Promise Unfulfilled

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2022
Contact: Erin Taylor | etaylor@lirs.org | 267-250-8829

BALTIMORE, MD – In response to news that the U.S. House of Representatives has left an Afghan Adjustment Act out of the Ukraine Supplemental, leaving tens of thousands of Afghans without a permanent path to residence and safety in the U.S., Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service said:

“The House’s failure to include an Afghan Adjustment Act in the Ukraine Supplemental illustrates a tragic break with historical precedence of how we’ve provided protection to other wartime evacuees. Without an adjustment to their status, tens of thousands of our Afghan allies and new neighbors face an uncertain future. The legal limbo Afghans find themselves in is a major source of stress and entirely unbefitting of the promises the United States made to protect them. We can and must do better than this as a nation.

“Adjustment acts were issued for Vietnamese allies after U.S. withdrawal, for Cubans fleeing the Castro regime, and for Kurdish allies from Iraq. We must not allow politics and fearmongering to get in the way of doing what veterans, Republicans, Democrats, advocates, and many other Americans know is right. The Senate must include an adjustment act in the supplemental before it votes.

“Our admirable support for our neighbors in Ukraine clearly demonstrates the American capacity to support and welcome those fleeing war, violence, and persecution. We must extend that support, too, to the tens of thousands of Afghans we worked so hard to bring to safety. Anything less would represent a mission unfinished and a promise unfulfilled.”