Fulfilling Promises to Afghan Allies Act (FFPAA)

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Tell Your Senator To Support

Fulfilling Promises to Afghan Allies Act (FFPAA)

We request that UUs and individuals motivated by UU values participate in the campaign to support our Afghan allies. We are at a critical time to secure a safe future for those who were evacuated to the U.S. after helping our forces in Afghanistan and standing up for human rights in their war-torn country. Tens of thousands of our allies, whom we evacuated in August of 2021, are still languishing in this country with no promise of permanent residency.

After much negotiation in favor of adjustment for Afghan allies, a bipartisan group of Senators has reached an agreement to attach an important amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The amendment, S. Amdt. 3290, includes many provisions of the previously proposed Afghanistan Adjustment Act (AAA). The amendment is the Fulfilling Promises to Afghan Allies Act (FFPAA), which contains proposals cleared by the relevant committee chairs and ranking members.

To enact the bill in a timely manner, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC)-passed NDAA and the House-passed NDAA will be combined through a series of negotiations led by the leadership of the SASC and the House Armed Services Committee (HASC). They are now in the process of negotiating differences between the House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2025.

Please contact your Members of Congress now to ensure that they include FPAAA in the final version of the NDAA. This is our last best chance to get this done with this Congress!

Related News Coverage:

When the US left Kabul, these Americans tried to help Afghans left behind. It still haunts them, The Frederick News-Post
Afghanistan 3 years later: Many remain in limbo, feeling let down, The Hill
Haunted by Afghans left behind, The Alpena News
3 years after the fall of Kabul, Afghan refugees in Vermont are still in limbo, Valley News
They fled Afghanistan. In the US, they have freedom – but fear a return, The Guardian
Three years after Kabul’s fall, veterans still helping allies left behind, WaPo
How The ‘Afghanistan Generation’ Of US Veterans Responded To The 2021 Withdrawal, The Hoover Institution

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Brief History And Background

1. In the Summer of 2021, the United States, with its allies, evacuated over 122,000 Afghans as their government collapsed in the face of a Taliban offensive. More than 86,000 Afghan refugees were brought to the United States. Despite determined efforts by UUSJ and many faith-based and veteran service organization allies, these refugees have languished in the United States without a guarantee of permanent residency. They are here on a humanitarian parole status, which provides no ability for them to develop long-term plans for themselves and their families. Many of these people have started the laborious and lengthy process of obtaining asylum. Still, many thousands of these refugees remain in a very tenuous status despite the vital support they provided to the United States government and military forces in the 20-year Afghan War.

2. In the Summer of 2022, a bipartisan solution to the lack of permanent residency called the Afghanistan Adjustment Act (AAA) was presented by six Senators (evenly divided between parties). Numerous Senators and Congress members from both parties backed the Bill. A companion piece of legislation called the Afghan Allies Protection Act (AAPA) was passed in 2009 — that legislation created a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV), which enabled Afghans who we had employed to come to the United States and enter a path to citizenship. SIVs are the primary tool for getting people still trapped in Afghanistan or its neighboring countries to the US. They are essential for family reunification. However, the AAPA requires annual reauthorization and an annual SIV increase to meet the need. The proposed AAA provided additional routes to citizenship and broadened the categories of Afghans eligible for SIV to include those not directly employed by the U.S. but who provided very valuable service (e.g., Afghan Air Force and Afghan Special Forces) to US forces.

3. In 2023, initial concerns about the adequacy of vetting procedures existed, but these were resolved to the satisfaction of Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), who serves as the Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans Committee. After that, he and Senator Klobuchar (D-MN) became the primary proponents for this legislation in the Senate. Unfortunately, despite strong support from many members of both parties in Congress and strenuous efforts to attach the AAA to numerous must-pass pieces of legislation, adjustment for Afghans has not succeeded in Congress.

4. In 2024, the best chance for Afghan adjustment is currently deemed to be the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) negotiations.

UU Grounding

As of General Assembly 2024, as Unitarian Universalists, we have agreed to “adopt new language on core religious values.” We agree love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. The values we share include all the following, which we hold as inseparable and deeply interconnected: Interdependence, Pluralism, Justice, Transformation, Generosity, and Equity. (Read more on the Article II revision process.)

With these agreed core religious values in mind, we also ground our call for action in support of Afghan allies in the following Unitarian Universalist Statements of Conscience and Actions of Immediate Witness:

Protect the Dreamers, the Recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) with a Pathway to Permanent Residence, 2023 Action of Immediate Witness
Undoing Systemic White Supremacy: A Call to Prophetic Action, 2021 Statement of Conscience
Protect the Rights of Immigrants and Asylum Seekers, 2019 Action of Immediate Witness
End Family Separation and Detention of Asylum Seekers and Abolish ICE, 2018 Action of Immediate Witness
Build Solidarity with our Muslim Neighbors, 2016 Action of Immediate Witness
End Immigrant Child and Family Detention Now, 2015 Action of Immediate Witness
Immigration as a Moral Issue, 2013 Statement of Conscience

Tell Your Senator To Support

Fulfilling Promises to Afghan Allies Act (FFPAA)

We need the FPAAA to be among the NDAA amendments. When the Senate returns from recess, as “must-pass legislation,” the NDAA is expected to be among the first elements of legislative negotiation.

We must voice our support early and firmly, marshaling UU voices across the U.S. and from every state.

Senate: Fulfilling Promises to Afghan Allies Act (FFPAA) Sept. 2024

Subject: Support the Fulfilling Promises to Afghan Allies Act

Message:

I request your support for the Fulfilling Promises to Afghan Allies Act (FFPAA), particularly its inclusion as Amendment S.3290 to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025. The FPAAA is critical to standardizing additional vetting in the pathway to legal permanent status for eligible Afghans who were relocated to the United States due to the U.S. military withdrawal. I am writing as a person of faith whose values ask me to respect the decency and basic needs of all. I am also called to support FFPAA for patriotic and national security considerations. In 2021, the U.S. and its allies evacuated over 122,000 Afghans as their country’s government collapsed in the face of a Taliban offensive. These refugees were primarily people and their families who had rendered vital assistance to and, in many cases, had saved the lives of U.S. servicemen and women. Over 86,000 of these refugees were brought to the U.S. Since then, they have been in our country with no guarantee of permanent residency. They are on humanitarian parole and, as such, are unable to plan for the long-term care and safety of themselves and their families. I feel our nation owes a debt of honor to those Afghans who bravely supported our forces in that 20-year war, and I hear from the veterans and military families in my community networks that they agree. Members of the Unitarian Universalist community have served in our armed forces, welcomed Afghans, and cared deeply about this issue. Passing the Fulfilling Promises to Afghan Allies Amendment would help alleviate any remaining security concerns about Afghan humanitarian parole recipients in the United States by requiring applicants to undergo a rigorous, gold-standard vetting process. Without this legislation, we would leave these Afghans in a state of legal limbo and without a comprehensive remedy for vetting concerns. I believe it is vital to support our allies and meet our nation’s commitments to them by ensuring that Amendment S.3290 is incorporated into the FY 2025 NDAA. Please urge your colleagues, especially Armed Services Committee members, to support Amendment 3290.

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