Authorize at least 20K more Special Immigrant Visas for our Afghan allies!

I’m writing to ask Congress to immediately authorize at least 20,000 more Afghan Special Immigrant Visas as part of the must-pass spending bills being worked on right now. America’s messy exit from Afghanistan in 2021 created an urgent moral need: Ensuring that we were not abandoning the Afghan allies who had helped U.S. forces during the two-decade war to slaughter at the hands of the triumphant Taliban. The Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, which Congress enacted under the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009, provides a path to the United States for Afghans who worked with the U.S. government for at least one year. But the program has a hard statutory cap. Congress has authorized the issuance of 38,500 visas; of those, only 8,000 slots remain. Yet 130,000 applications still need to be processed, and more applications come in daily. At the current pace, the government estimates that limit will be hit by August. Given the gridlocked state of Congress, the pending round of must-pass spending legislation may prove the only viable vehicle to raise that cap in time. Please use it! The Biden-Harris administration has repeatedly requested Congress authorize 20,000 more Afghan SIVs to stand with those who stood alongside our troops, diplomats, and development professionals during 20 years of war in Afghanistan. We are on track to use all remaining visa numbers this Fiscal Year and need Congress to act. The SIV program enjoys 89 percent support from the American public, and 75 percent of Republicans support it. More importantly, it’s the right thing to do. Please listen to Americans across political parties and authorize these additional visas now!