Official Daily Action for Wednesday, November 17th, 2021
Over the last three months, over 20,000 applications for Humanitarian Parole have been filed for Afghans seeking refuge and family reunification in the U.S. The federal government has not acted on a single application from Afghans within Afghanistan since August. The U.S. has a moral obligation to help Afghans, since the instability in the area is a direct result of foreign intervention and occupation. Today’s daily action, adapted from Project ANAR (Afghan Network for Advocacy & Resources), is to contact your members of Congress and demand action on these parole applications.
Action: Demand Action on Humanitarian Parole Applications
Contact both Senators:
Senator Patty Murray: 202-224-2621 or http://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme
Senator Maria Cantwell: 202-224-3441 or http://www.cantwell.senate.gov/contact/email/form
Contact your Representative:
Rep. Pramila Jayapal – 202-225-3106 or http://jayapal.house.gov/contact
Rep. Adam Smith – 202-225-8901 or http://adamsmith.house.gov/contact
Script
Hello,
My name is _____ and I live in ______.
I’m calling as your constituent, to urge you to support vulnerable Afghans seeking refuge and family reunification in the U.S.
USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) has received over 20,000 Humanitarian Parole applications from Afghans but hasn’t approved any since August. We must create a new pathway for Afghans to make it to the U.S., but until then, the U.S. owes refuge to Afghans facing a crisis as a result of decades of U.S. foreign policy decisions.
The U.S. must work quickly to create a pathway to safe passage for Afghans and USCIS must resume approving Afghan Humanitarian Parole applications. Afghans have families and communities in the U.S. ready to receive them, and Congress has already authorized refugee benefits for Afghan parolees. The lack of a U.S. embassy in Kabul is not justification for leaving thousands of Afghans in limbo – the U.S. has historically utilized parole in situations like this one, and has always created immigration corridors for those in countries without U.S. embassies.
Afghans and their allies have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover the exorbitant $575 per person humanitarian parole application fee. USCIS took that money, now they have an obligation to act on the applications.
Thank you.
Background
Project ANAR Humanitarian Parole Backlog Toolkit
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17eD92Gew4oP0xQDPOvdcFUd4hHvIxASYyr0jMZX84Uc/edit
