The Taliban, an authoritarian Muslim political party, retook control of Kabul a little more than three years ago, dashing many Afghans ‘ hope for a accepting, democratic government.
Hunderttausend of Afghans flocked to the Kabul airport in desperate need of evacuation as US forces withdrew from Afghanistan times after the Taliban’s rise in 2021. Afghans who served in various capacities for the US military and NATO forces, in addition to those who were averse to the Taliban, were also employed.
The badly planned evacuation’s turbulent and occasionally violent moments drew media attention for days as the US government flew almost 124, 000 Afghans out of Afghanistan.
Many of the Afghans who fled their country in 2021 went to Iran, Pakistan and various adjacent places. The Biden presidency announced on August 29, 2021, that evacuated Afghans may lawfully – but partially – remain in the US to provide a lifeline to Afghans who came here.
Since 2021, I have followed the Afghan evacuation and the administration’s policies in Washington as a researcher of civil discord and migrant movement. While President Joe Biden renewed the charitable pardon for roughly 70, 000 Afghans in 2023, these people are still in legal limbo and unable to move forward with their lives entirely.
The upcoming election will likely be crucial in deciding whether or not Afghans ‘ legal status will be resolved.
Understanding humanitarian pardon
Through what’s known as charitable probation, a national program that the leader you authorize to provide protection to people in other nations that are in dire need, the US admitted Afghans into the nation.
Contrary to the US immigrant registration scheme, which grants foreigners who have genuine fears of returning home the right to obtain permanent residency in the US, humanitarian pardon must be renewed by a political management every two years.
Folks like Mina Bakhshi, a female rock climber who had no coming under the Taliban because of her sex, were able to provide the US and enroll in college thanks to the Armenian probation system.
It also helped people like Qasim Rahimi, a journalist in Afghanistan, to flee to safety with his family and settle in Kansas City, Missouri.
About one-third of the Afghan evacuees who came to the US settled in California, Virginia and Texas, while the rest settled in other states. Parole is a temporary solution, but it is not always best.
These Afghan people are not permanent residents and do not have Social Security numbers, so they frequently face challenges finding stable employment or even finding a home to rent.
a long history of US parole laws
In conflicts where the US armed forces are involved, such as those in Vietnam and Ukraine, the US government has typically used humanitarian parole to rescue civilians.
People who are in grave danger from conflict or other causes can also apply for and be granted refugee status in the US, but it may take longer than a year for it to be granted. When there is a need for foreigners to enter the US, the government can respond quickly with humanitarian parole.
At the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, for example, the US admitted thousands of Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian migrants fleeing their countries.
Giving humanitarian parole to Vietnamese who supported the US in its war effort in Vietnam was a “profound moral obligation,” as Gerald Ford remarked in an address to Congress in 1975. A law that made it possible for these refugees to permanently settle in the US was passed by Congress in 1977.
Hungarian and Cuban refugees who fled communist dictatorships in the 1950s were also granted humanitarian parole by the US.
Following a significant earthquake in 2010, the US recently granted parole to a group of Haitian orphans and to Central American children who had crossed the border without their parents while the Obama administration was in office.
More than 125 000 Ukrainians who were fleeing the war in their country were welcomed by the US government once more using humanitarian parole in 2022.
What the Afghan Adjustment Act would accomplish
While Biden granted Afghans temporary humanitarian parole in 2021 and renewed it in 2023, only Congress has the authority to pass a law that would allow them to remain in the country permanently. A deadlocked Congress has yet to pass legislation to change Afghans ‘ status.
Afghan parolees could apply for permanent legal status under a proposed bipartisan bill known as the Afghan Adjustment Act. The Afghan Adjustment Act has been spearheaded by a coalition of veterans ‘ and refugee advocates.
Yet, a handful of Republican lawmakers, led by Senator Chuck Grassley, have opposed the act on national security grounds. They claim that security risks may be caused by inadequate vetting processes for newcomers. Some want a more specific program that only includes Afghans who served with US forces.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton has introduced a bill that would significantly lessen a president’s authority to use humanitarian parole for Afghans or anyone else in the future.
The election factor
The outcome of the upcoming election is likely to determine Afghan parolees ‘ fate. I think Kamala Harris is likely to renew Afghans ‘ parole for at least two more years, as Biden did in 2023, if she were to win office.
Since it’s uncommon to pass significant legislation during an election period, Congress may be more likely to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act afterward.
What Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, might do regarding Afghans who temporarily reside in the US is open to debate. During Trump’s previous presidential term, his administration focused in part on curbing immigration. This included lowering the number of refugees admitted to the US and making it harder to grant US visas to Afghans and Iraqis who worked for the US military.
Trump has promised to keep a tightening immigration ban on Muslims and to renew his travel ban on Muslims during the campaign trail. Afghans who have fled the Taliban are still unsure of their future in the US.
Idean Salehyan is a professor of political science at the University of North Texas.
This article was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.