Thread by @betsylfisher

This is remarkable (and infuriating) as we hear about interruptions in evacuation flights at HKIA. #AfghanEvac

As they say, a THREAD

https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1430689102173704198

First, no one is disputing that SIV processing happened faster this summer, nor that a lot of good work went into that.

The problem is that it came too late. The surge in SIV processing is of little consolation to the Afghans whose passports were at the US Embassy when it fell.

It's of little help to Afghans holding issued SIVs and standing outside the airport for the last week, facing bullets, tear gas, and standing in baking sun and sewage waiting to get out.

Here's @IRAP's report from April 2021.

The SIV program has not one but four fatal flaws.

1) It is far too narrow. Tens of 1000s of Afghans worked for US media and NGOs, or for the USG but on a grant or contract. None of those people were ever considered SIV eligible--let alone human rights defenders.

2) It put the burden on the applicant to provide extraordinary levels of information that the US government or its contractors were always better positioned to find. Have a complete packet, but your supervisor's email changed? DENIED.

3) It gave total discretion to US citizen employers and supervisors--and required their cooperation for an applicant to continue. If employers would not issue HR letters, or supervisors would not issue letters, applicants had no recourse.

Employers also had total discretion on what went in HR letters. We've seen hundreds of cases in which a person had strong recommendations but could not proceed because their HR letter said they were terminated "for cause."

4) Finally, delays. Delays delays.

Delays.

There's a lot more to say about this (@IRAP wrote a 40+ page report with more detail).

refugeerights.org/wp-content/upl…

Then! We have the new Afghan P-2 program, one way to be referred to be considered for refugee resettlement. We understand that employers have submitted thousands of names, but what is the process for verifying and processing those names?

As we look at the number of evacuations in the last two weeks, I have to think about why the airlift was necessary. About how insistence on getting certain magic phrases on certain documents--only for the benefit of certain applicants--mean that so many will be left behind.

I know that so many thousands of people, in government and out, have spent not just the last couple of weeks but several months scrambling around the click to work as they can to help as many as possible.

Keep the #AfghanEvac flights going. As long as possible. For as many people as possible.
nytimes.com/interactive/20…