By Allen King, Staff Attorney

On June 15, 2023, I joined another TNJFON staff member, Hannah Smalley, in speaking on Evacuate Our Allies advocacy calls with staffers for Senators Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn. Along with other Tennesseans, we urged the Senators to support the Afghan Adjustment Act and Afghan Allies Protection Act. The Afghan Adjustment Act would allow Afghan parolees to apply directly for green cards, streamlining the process for obtaining permanent residency in the US by eliminating the need to apply for asylum. The Afghan Allies Protection Act increases capacity for the SIV program, facilitating evacuation for allies and their family members remaining in Afghanistan, which has been a widespread concern among Afghan evacuees given the Taliban's continued retaliation against its perceived enemies. 

In the meetings, I spoke on the complexity of the asylum process and how taxing it is for the individuals navigating it, particularly for people who are new to the United States and trying to rebuild their lives after evacuating with almost nothing. I and other constituents also shared stories from evacuees. One central message was that although national security is the primary concern cited by Senators when explaining their reluctance to support the bills, many Afghan evacuees are veterans who worked directly with U.S. troops and were vetted before being allowed to enlist. 

Hannah then spoke on how failure to support Afghan evacuees in their time of need would reflect negatively on the United States' presence in other countries. Many military bases around the world rely heavily on local staff, and if those individuals come to believe that the United States will abandon them if things go bad, they would be less likely to support us in the future.

Staffers from both offices provided insight into where each Senator stood on the issue, leaving the door open to future conversations.

I later joined another TNJFON staff member, Hashmatullah Azizi, to promote the Afghan Adjustment Act at a World Refugee Day event. After I shared the legal context for the policy, Hashmat spoke about the concerns he hears every day from our clients and other Afghans in Nashville. Though many evacuees paroled in are now eligible for re-parole, the uncertainty and delays of the asylum process makes it difficult to feel truly safe. Before the government announced re-parole as an option, many feared they would lose their work permits, and with that their jobs, their homes, and the stability they have managed to build in Nashville.

TNJFON has filed 93 asylum applications for Afghan parolees and received 9 approvals so far. The process is long, difficult, and stressful for clients. In addition to having to take time off work to prepare the application, each and every applicant must attend an asylum interview. This strict, un-waivable requirement has led to TNJFON attorneys accompanying children as young as six years old to the USCIS field office for them to be interrogated about whether they are secretly Taliban supporters. It is undignified and retraumatizing. Because the Afghan Adjustment Act would allow these clients to apply directly for green cards, its passage would allow them to bypass this asylum process altogether. 

It is past time for our government to do the right thing and pass the Afghan Adjustment Act, but late is better than never. For the representatives in Congress, this is simply another bargaining chip and talking point, but for Afghan evacuees, it’s their lives. Please take the time to call your representative and let them know that it’s time to act. We owe it to our new neighbors to finally do the right thing.