Coalition Calls on Biden Administration to Create Afghan Parole Program

The American Immigration Council joined over 200 organizations in calling on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to create a designated parole program for at-risk Afghans, as a complement to other protection avenues being established for the longer-term future. The letter asks the administration to act with urgency, given threats of violence from the Taliban and the humanitarian and economic crisis that have followed the August 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. It explains that designated parole programs have been used many times in the past and that such a program would meet the immediate need of vulnerable population while the refugee program is rebuilt. The letter proposes that the program include all Afghans eligible for Special Immigrant Visas and their family members, refugees referred to the U.S. Refugee Admission Program while that program is rebuilt, those whose work or identity makes them a target for harm, women, and others with compelling protection needs.