Tlaib Leads Letter Urging Biden To Help Afghan Evacuees In U.S.

DETROIT — U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib presented a letter with 24 other congressional signatures urging President Joe Biden to take "to take concrete, common-sense steps to ease Afghan evacuees’ transition into life in the United States."

"Our country has long offered shelter to those seeking refuge from catastrophe," Tlaib said. "Now is the time to continue that tradition and stand beside Afghan evacuees in need."

The letter specifically asks President Biden to:

• Waive fees associated with humanitarian parole applications for Afghans.
• Provide funds for legal assistance for Afghan Evacuees.
• Designate Afghans for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to ensure that all Afghans living in the U.S. are protected against deportation.
• Create an alternative mechanism to allow vulnerable Afghans to apply for humanitarian parole without visiting a U.S. embassy while we lack diplomatic representation in Kabul.

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“Given that the U.S. embassy in Kabul is closed, Afghan parolees will be forced to take dangerous routes to third countries to reach a U.S. embassy to process their parole applications," Tlaib said. "This creates additional obstacles and bureaucratic barriers to the humanitarian parole process, and unnecessarily exposes vulnerable Afghans to additional risk. Thus, the U.S. should establish an alternative mechanism for processing humanitarian parole applications for vulnerable Afghans that does not require an applicant to visit a U.S. embassy as long as we lack a diplomatic presence in the country."

"The United States has long offered shelter to those seeking refuge from catastrophe," Tlaib added. "Now is the time to continue this tradition and stand beside the Afghan people in their time of need."