Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden has joined his colleagues in sending a letter to the Biden administration with concerns about the stark inconsistencies in the treatment of humanitarian parole applicants from Ukraine and Afghanistan.
“The inconsistent treatment of Afghan and Ukrainian humanitarian parole applications is troubling. Afghans and Ukrainians have turned to humanitarian parole because other pathways out of their respective countries and to the United States, such as family reunification, are inaccessible or backlogged, and therefore inadequate in the face of immediate danger. We urge USCIS to adopt an approach to Afghan parole applications that mirrors the new treatment of Ukrainian applications, including accelerating the processing of Afghan parole applications, waiving (or refunding) application fees, and not requiring a showing of targeted violence,” Wyden and colleagues wrote in their letter to President Joe Biden; Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security; and Ur Jaddou, Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
In the letter, Wyden and his colleagues point out that while applications from Ukrainians are expeditiously processed through a new and cost-free “Uniting for Ukraine” program, applications from Afghans are subject to lengthier and expensive processing. Additionally, Afghans are required to complete an in-person consular interview and provide proof that they were personally targeted for violence by the Taliban, while Ukrainians do not need to complete an interview at the consulate and only need to prove that they lived in Ukraine at the time of the Russian invasion.
The letter concludes with Wyden and colleagues noting that they admire the U.S. response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis, but would hope that the same welcoming and accommodating approach applied to all those fleeing humanitarian crises, wherever they occur.
The letter was led by U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey, D-Mass. Alongside Wyden, the letter was joined by U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
The text of the letter is here.
A web version of this release is here.