24 AUG 2021

Memo on Trump and Biden Policies: Trump’s Actions Failed Afghan Allies and Refugees, Exacerbating Today’s Immigration Challenge As Biden Evacuates Thousands Out of Afghanistan

President Biden Must Continue to Evacuate and Welcome Afghan Veterans and Refugees

Washington, DC — The recent developments in Afghanistan underscore the need to evacuate as many Afghan women, children and vulnerable families and minorities, such as LGBTQ+ individuals, from the region. Many of these individuals - including veterans and allies who provided critical assistance to the U.S. military - were already in considerable danger under the Trump administration due to their egregious policies that cut and gutted legal immigration and asylum processes for Afghans and many others across the globe. DHS Secretary Mayorkas’s announcement today, allowing at-risk Afghans without visas to enter the U.S. after passing security screenings, including those with pending Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applications, is welcomed as massive efforts to evacuate Afghans continue to take place.

“An important part of the story we’re witnessing today in Afghanistan is the immense harm the Trump administration imposed on America’s immigration system and its effect on human life,” stated Sergio Gonzales, Executive Director of the Immigration Hub. “Trump made it near impossible for Afghans and other vulnerable individuals across the world to apply for special immigration visas or asylum. His actions had serious and deadly consequences. And, let’s be clear:  Republicans in Congress didn’t do anything to stop him. Since day one, the Biden-Harris administration has had to tackle the challenges of undoing the destruction of the previous administration, including our legal immigration and asylum processes. Their job is far from done. Even as they move forward critical policies to undo the damage of previous administrations, we encourage them to use every tool to evacuate Afghan allies and refugees and ensure their safety. This isn’t a matter of political winds, but rather of America’s proud tradition of offering refuge and security to those fleeing danger, persecution and natural disasters.”

The Immigration Hub breaks down how the previous policies implemented by the Trump administration further exacerbated and gutted an already precarious legal immigration and asylum system that contributed to the challenges witnessed today in Afghanistan. Following this analysis, the Hub also provides a summary of efforts by the Biden administration to reverse many of Trump’s previous actions, and recommendations moving forward. 

  • The Muslim Ban: In January 2017, the Trump administration immediately instituted a Muslim ban, impacting the vast majority of Aghan (and Iraqi) professionals who worked alongside the United States.

  • Major decline in SIV approvals blocks refugees. Two months into the Trump administration, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson directed American embassies around the world to double down on visas and “increase scrutiny of visa applicants for potential security and non-security ineligibilities.” This caused a stark decline in arrivals under the Special Immigration Visa (SIV) program. From January to June of 2017, 10,267 immigrants came to the U.S. on special immigrant visas. Over the same period in 2018, the number had fallen by more than half, to 4,166. (Note: SIV was already a very narrow and arduous process that required specific work in US operations, multiple letters documenting experience and extensive security screenings, etc.)

  • Trump rejected thousands of Afghan SIV applications. Even though from fiscal years 2007 to 2017, SIVs made up roughly 1 percent of all U.S. immigrant visas granted, Trump rejected about 2,700 applications filed by Afghan citizens during the first nine months of fiscal year 2017.

  • Drastic Reduction in Afghan SIV Program. When Republicans controlled the House and Senate they passed the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act with a drastic reduction in the number of Afghans who could receive SIV protection - allowing just 1500 more. Trump signed this into law without any objection. As of Spring 2017, only 1,437 visas remained in the entire program and the State Department estimated that the remaining visas would be exhausted by June 1, 2017. As a result, the US Embassy in Kabul stopped scheduling new applicant interviews, leaving over 15,000 Afghans and their families still waiting at some point in the application phase.

  • Termination of the SIV program. The same NDAA legislation sought to terminate the SIV program on December 31, 2020. Despite warnings like that of General Nicholson and General Joseph Votel who wrote against terminating the program to former Senator John McCain (AZ), Trump ignored the critical considerations which had deadly consequences.

  • Impact: Death and backlogs. In 2018, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) estimated that 1 Afghan professional was killed every 36 hours due to affiliation with the U.S., but there was also an 11,288 backlog. By then, there was already a 40% drop in admissions from 2017.

  • Overseas consulates shut down. In March 2019, Trump announced that he would shutter all overseas consulates, which meant that SIV applications (and family, etc.) would be subject to much greater delays. This was not by accident as this was part of Trump and Stephen Miller’s plan to close down legal immigration to the United States. By mid-2020, almost all were closed and the backlogs had increased exponentially.

Since the beginning of the Biden administration, the president has issued almost 100 executive actions and related policies aimed at reorienting the immigration system and unwinding a number of Trump policies. The Immigration Hub’s deeper analyses on these policies can be viewed in our 100-Day Progress Report and the comparison analysis between both administrations. On the matter of the SIV program and protection of Afghan allies and refugees, the Biden administration made earlier efforts to reverse the damage caused by Trump:

  • Pres. Biden signs bill to protect Afghans via SIV program. On July 30, the White House signed into law the Shaheen-Ernst Bill to protect Afghan allies through the SIV program. The legislation extends the SIV program, increases by 8,000 the number of authorized visas, changes the employment requirement from two years to one year, postpones the required medical exam until the applicant and their family have arrived in the U.S., removes the “sensitive and trusted” requirement, and provides for special immigrant status for certain surviving spouses and children of those applicants murdered while waiting for their SIV approval.

  • Expediting SIV process. Prior to the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan, the Biden administration initiated several programs to expedite the SIV process. The U.S. Congress has also worked on legislation that would complement the administration's efforts.

  • Biden launches Operation Allies Refuge. On July 14, 2021, the Biden administration launched Operation Allies Refuge aiming to evacuate 2,500 people (700 applicants and their families) to the Department of Defense–recommended Fort Lee, Virginia, among other locations. Evacuations began the final week of July and used chartered commercial aircraft as opposed to a military evacuation.

  • Biden also launches the No One Left Behind program. No One Left Behind offered to purchase plane tickets for Afghans who had been approved through the SIV process to accelerate their departure. Otherwise, SIV holders were set to wait up to three to five months for the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration to schedule their flights.

  • Biden authorizes millions in emergency funds for Afghan refugees. On July 23, the Biden administration authorized $100 million in emergency funds for Afghan refugees and $200 million from U.S. government agencies to assist refugees. In addition to the HOPE Act, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan Averting Loss of Life and Injury by Expediting SIVs Act (ALLIES Act) on July 22, 2021. The act added some 8,000 additional visas and aimed to remove some of the more burdensome application requirements like medical clearances and providing a “credible sworn statement” of threats to applicants. It also expands eligibility to include those who worked with allied forces.

  • Biden’s State Department grants access for Afghan families to USRAP. On August 2, 2021, the State Department also announced Priority 2 (P-2) designation for eligible Afghans and family members, granting them access to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). This program is for Afghans who worked with the U.S. government or through U.S.-funded programs or organizations that are not eligible for SIVs due to type of employment or time limitation reasons. They might have eventually been eligible for resettlement, but only once their visa applications (those already in the pipeline) were processed. Importantly, those eligible for a P-2 designation cannot apply in Afghanistan and would need to make their way to another country to apply.

While these are important steps, more is needed to ensure the safety of vulnerable Afghans. This includes: 

  • Expand the eligibility criteria of SIVs to include Afghan staff who worked on USG-funded grants and cooperative agreements;

  • Increase the capacity of NGOs operating in Afghanistan to make referrals for the P1 program, especially for women and girls, activists, and religious and ethnic minorities;

  • Expand and expedite the processing of P1, P2, and P3 refugees from the region while also removing life-threatening obstacles to qualification for those programs;

  • Designate Afghanistan for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to protect Afghans already in the United States; and

  • In addition to creating a security cordon around Kabul’s airport, secure and open the airports in Kandahar and Mazar Sharif for the processing of SIV applicants and other refugees.

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The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.