Thread by @Jeannie_Hartley

6 @SenateGOP needed to #PassAAA here’s 8 ☎️pls call

@SenThomTillis: 202.224.6342

@JohnCornyn: 202.224.2934

@SenShelby: 202.224.5744

@SenSasse: 202.224.4224

@SenatorFischer: 202.224.6551

@MikeCrapo: 202.224.6142

@SenatorRisch: 202.224.2752

@SenatorRomney: 202.224.5251

The U.S.has done adjustment acts before - Following several past U.S.-involved conflicts or humanitarian crises – Cuban Revolution, Vietnam and Iraq – Congress passed adjustment acts that granted individuals from these countries the opportunity to adjust to permanent status.

The AAA protects our national security. Under the AAA, This screening conforms to the USRAP security check guidelines, which is the most rigorous background investigation process in the immigration system.

The AAA allows the administration to ensure that Afghans seeking safety are not arbitrarily barred from protection due to existing law that fails to consider the perilous journey they were forced to take to arrive in the United States.

The United States’evacuation created a situation where thousands of Afghans were brought to this country without guarantee of long term status. The government cannot remove them back to Afghanistan and the only other option is to undergo a lengthy and traumatizing asylum process.

The AAA would save these Afghans from years of legal limbo and ensure that they are properly screened and vetted to gain legal permanent residence much more quickly.

SIV application is specifically designed for a small set of individuals who were employed by the U.S. government. Roughly 5% of Afghans who were brought to United States are SIV applicants. According to State Dept another 35% of evacuees are eligible for SIV but haven’t applied.

The Special Immigrant Visa program is a unique process that is meant to help a very specific set of people and does not address the reality that the United States has an obligation to adequately resettle and resolve the status of all parolees.

If Congress fails to act, it will additionally strain already-overwhelmed asylum and immigration court systems. Without an AAA, tens of thousands of recently arrived Afghans will have to find an existing immigration pathway to remain lawful once their parole expires.

That will mean tens of thousands of new asylum claims, when the current affirmative asylum backlog is more than 400,000 cases with a broader immigration backlog of 1.4 million cases.

Many of these Afghans will struggle to complete asylum claims. They were often forced to destroy important documents to avoid Taliban persecution, and others had important documents destroyed by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul as the city fell.

These complications could make asylum claims more difficult and increase the likelihood that Afghan parolees end up in already-overwhelmed immigration courts.

@SenatorCollins 202.224.2523

@SenThomTillis 202.224.6342
@JohnCornyn: 202.224.2934
@SenShelby: 202.224.5744
@SenSasse: 202.224.4224
@SenatorFischer: 202.224.6551
@MikeCrapo: 202.224.6142
@SenatorRisch: 202.224.2752

@SenatorRomney: 202.224.5251
@SenRubioPress 202.224.3041
@SenLummis 202.224.3424
@LeaderMcConnell 859.224.8286
@SenatorCollins 202.224.2523
@HawleyMO 202.224.6154
@ChuckGrassley 202.224.6020

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