Last Sunday, Janet Gwilym spoke of legislation that would allow our new Afghan neighbors to apply for permanent status to stay in the United States. She asked us to urge our Congress members to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act. Do that by using this online resource that the International Rescue Committee has organized, or by signing letters at Plymouth this Sunday.
More than 78,000 Afghans were welcomed to the U.S. through Operation Allies Welcome in 2021 under a special process called “humanitarian parole.” This allowed Afghans to be admitted to the U.S. quickly and enabled them to stay in the U.S. for up to two years, but did not guarantee a path to lawful permanent residence or eventual citizenship. Despite meeting the definition of a refugee, these Afghans find themselves under a cloud of legal uncertainty.
Congress can remedy this situation and provide long-term support to our new Afghan neighbors by passing the bipartisan Afghan Adjustment Act. The Afghan Adjustment Act will provide a pathway to lawful permanent status for these humanitarian parolees—the same legal footing they would have enjoyed had they been resettled to the U.S. as refugees. After a historic all-hands evacuation effort, the United States should guarantee Afghan humanitarian parolees not just temporary safety, but certainty: the certainty of future security, the certainty that citizenship affords families and their future generations, and the certainty that they will be able to craft their lives from all—not just some—of what the U.S. has to offer. Please reach out to your congressional representatives and ask them to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act.
Sign letters to our congress people at Plymouth this Sunday, or click here to sign online.
-Adele Reynolds, for Plymouth Peace Action Group