Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., speaks during an event Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, at the headquarters of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Washington, D.C. Looking on from left are American Legion National Security Commission Chairman Matthew Shuman, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and at far right Pat Murray, the VFW’s director of the National Legislative Service. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — A group of lawmakers said Thursday that they will push to include a path to U.S. residency for Afghan allies in a national security aid bill moving through the Senate.
Senate leaders on Wednesday stripped provisions that would have helped Afghans who worked with U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan after Republicans voted down a bill that paired aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with a crackdown on immigration.
But a standalone foreign aid bill moved forward with some Republican support on Thursday and opened the door to an amendment process that could reinstate measures aimed at “fulfilling promises to Afghan allies.”
“This is a national security issue,” said Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, the top Republican on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “It sends a message to our allies that we’re dependable and a message to our adversaries that we’re united.”
Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Chris Coons, D-Del., are also lobbying for the amendment, alongside veterans and advocacy groups. Klobuchar said the senators are touting the unique bipartisan nature of the legislation, but it was unclear Thursday whether Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., would put it to a vote.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., speaks during an event Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, at the headquarters of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Washington, D.C., as she urged members of Congress to pass an amendment that would provide a path out of immigration limbo for tens of thousands of Afghan refugees. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
The proposed amendment would provide a long-awaited path out of immigration limbo for tens of thousands of Afghan refugees evacuated to the U.S. during the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Advocacy groups and lawmakers had tried for years to move Afghans from humanitarian parole status to legal residency via a bill called the Afghan Adjustment Act, but the legislation stalled amid resistance from Republicans who insisted on strict vetting for refugees.
The deal that Senate Republicans rebelled against this week would have coupled extensive vetting procedures with a way for qualified Afghans to apply for American citizenship eventually. It also extended special immigrant visa eligibility to Afghan forces who fought alongside the U.S. military, including female members of the Afghan National Security Forces.
About 152,000 Afghan interpreters and others who assisted the U.S. in its fight against the Taliban are believed to still be in Afghanistan, according to the State Department. Some 90,000 Afghan refugees were resettled in the U.S. and only about 20,000 have been approved for visas that give them the right to remain and work in the U.S.
“We are essentially asking our Afghan partners — people who took bullets to the face and shrapnel across their body — to rebuild their lives on top of a trapdoor that could fall out from under them any second,” Klobuchar said. “Without a path to permanent residency, all of it: their jobs, their homes, their safety could disappear.”
Veterans groups have expressed dismay at the sudden collapse of the Senate’s original national security legislation, which was negotiated for months after Republicans said they would not vote for a bill to aid Ukraine until it included tightened security at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Republican Senators turned their backs on the legislation after former President Donald Trump, who is expected to win the Republican nomination for president, publicly denounced it.
“Holding our allies who stood beside our troops in our nation’s longest war hostage to our dysfunctional politics on immigration is morally bankrupt,” said Tom Seaman, a Marine Corps veteran and legislative director for the nonprofit veterans group With Honor Action. “If we miss this opportunity right now, today, tomorrow and the following days, it could be months or even years before we can fix this.”
Marine veteran Tom Seaman, the legislative director for the nonprofit veterans group With Honor Action, speaks during an event Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, at the headquarters of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Washington, D.C., where he urged members of Congress to pass an amendment that would provide a path out of immigration limbo for tens of thousands of Afghan refugees. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
Schumer said an amendment process is being negotiated with Republicans and work on the bill will continue “until the job is done.”
The legislation that the Senate advanced Thursday would send $60 billion to Ukraine for its war against Russian aggression, $14 billion in security assistance for Israel, $10 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones and nearly $5 billion to support Taiwan and deter China.
An additional $2.4 billion would boost U.S. military operations in the Middle East, where American forces are carrying out strikes against Iran-affiliated militias in Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
The legislation is expected to face a difficult path in both chambers as some Senate Republicans conditioned their support on the addition of immigration-related amendments and House Republicans increasingly oppose any further aid to Ukraine.
