Just a month ahead of the two-year anniversary marking the fall of Kabul, a bipartisan Afghan Adjustment Act (S.2327 / H.R.4627) has been reintroduced by both houses of Congress, with 34 co-sponsors.  

The Afghan Adjustment Act, which Lutheran Social Service of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA), alongside Afghan-American, veteran and military, refugee, immigration, and faith allied organizations have been advocating for since before its first introduction in August 2022, would provide a pathway to permanent legal residency in the United States to Afghan Allies.  

A year later we continue to see the consequences of not supporting allies with the provision of this pathway. More than 75,000 Afghans were resettled in the U.S. through Operation Allies Welcome. More than half arrived with humanitarian parole which does not grant them a green card. LSSNCA has served more than 4,600 Afghans since Summer 2021, and we continue evolving services to best meet their needs like ongoing legal service workshops for reparole, asylum adjustment, and Employee Authorization Documents (EADs) to help recreate a new, stable, and comfortable life in the U.S. they so rightfully deserve. Across the country, only 11 percent of the tens of thousands of Afghan asylum cases have been adjudicated.   

“We are grateful to Members of Congress who have come together, across the aisle, to support what we all know is our moral and ethical obligation – to support our allies as they supported us. To provide protection as they protected us,” said LSSNCA CEO Kristyn Peck. “Passing the Afghan Adjustment Act will provide certainty regarding their families’ future here in America. We hope this time Congress makes that happen.”