Blumenthal, Graham, & Ernst File NDAA Amendment to Facilitate Swift Evacuation & Processing of High Risk Afghan Allies

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joni Ernst (R-IA) filed a bipartisan amendment to the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to facilitate the immediate evacuation and processing of Afghan nationals who served the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and remain under threat from the Taliban. The Senate is expected to begin floor consideration of the FY22 NDAA in the coming weeks.

“The United States has a moral and humanitarian obligation to protect and evacuate our Afghan friends and allies who remain in danger,” said Blumenthal. “For two decades, these interpreters, development workers, journalists, and civil rights advocates stood side by side with U.S. troops, diplomats, and organizations during our mission in Afghanistan. Now, with their lives and their family’s lives under threat from the Taliban, we must do everything in our power to ensure their safety. I’m proud to join Senators Graham and Ernst in this bipartisan effort to support our Afghan allies by devoting resources to evacuating and processing these SIV and USRAP applicants. These very specific steps are vital to assuring that America provides robust capacity and streamlined bureaucratic process to enable our allies to escape severe danger.” 

“Right now, thousands of Afghan SIV applicants and other vulnerable Afghans who fought bravely by our side, who worked with us to help protect America, have been abandoned,” said Graham. “We need to dedicate ourselves as a nation to getting them out of Afghanistan – they’re our people. It is dishonorable what we’ve done. It is critical that we develop a plan to get them safely out of Afghanistan.”

Thousands of Afghan nationals who served alongside U.S. military personnel or for American non-profits, media companies, or aid organizations in Afghanistan remain in the country and at dire risk from the Taliban due to their work on behalf of the U.S. mission. The amendment would help facilitate their immediate evacuation to safety and also streamline their visa processing to prevent unreasonable delays to their resettlement.

The bipartisan amendment directs the Departments of State, Homeland Security, and other relevant federal agencies to:

• Prioritize for evacuation special immigrant visa applicants and referrals to the United States Refugee Admissions Program, including through the Priority 2 Designation;
• Facilitate the rapid departure of such individuals from Afghanistan by air charter and land passage;
• Provide letters of support, diplomatic notes and other documentation, as appropriate, to ease transit of such individuals;
• Engage governments of relevant countries to better facilitate evacuation;
• Disseminate frequent updates to such individuals and relevant nongovernmental organizations;
• Identify or establish sufficient locations outside of Afghanistan that will accept such individuals during application processing; and
• Further surge capacity to better support such individuals and reduce their application processing times, while ensuring strict and necessary security vetting, including, to the extent practicable, enabling refugee referrals to initiate application processes while still in Afghanistan.

The text of the Senate amendment is available here. U.S. Representatives Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Peter Meijer (R-MI) introduced a similar amendment to the House NDAA, which was overwhelmingly adopted.

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