Letter
Published on February 15, 2022
Dear Secretary Mayorkas and Director Jaddou:
We write on behalf of the undersigned legal services providers, resettlement agencies, law firms, law school clinics, and non profit organizations serving asylum seekers and refugees to respectfully request the creation of a designated parole program for at-risk Afghans who urgently require protection and seek reunification with family.
The creation of the Afghan Parole Program is necessitated and justified by the urgent needs of Afghans requiring immediate protection, and as a complement to other protection avenues being established for the longer-term future. We call on you, as the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), to use your authority to establish the Afghan Parole Program to protect vulnerable Afghans. As Secretary Mayorkas stated in September 2021, “[w]e have a moral imperative to protect [vulnerable Afghans], to support those who have supported this Nation.” An Afghan Parole Program would be a significant step in acknowledging the urgency of this moment and helping to fulfill that moral imperative.
Downloads:
