WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Thom Tillis, Tom Cotton (R-AK), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) recently introduced legislation to provide support for Afghan nationals who helped American forces in Afghanistan. 

The Ensuring American Security and Protect Afghan Allies Act provides a path to permanent citizenship for Afghans who evacuated to America during President Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. The bill also ensures American security by implementing a better evacuee vetting system, and better protects our Afghan allies by improving the process for referring our allies for priority refugee status.

“I’ve heard from countless North Carolina veterans who are forever indebted to the brave Afghans who risked their own lives to protect them and advance our common mission in Afghanistan,” said Senator Tillis. “We owe it to our Afghan allies to provide them with a fair and efficient refugee process that recognizes the sacrifices they made alongside America’s finest.”

The Ensuring American Security and Protect Afghan Allies Act would:

• Protect national security by setting up a better system to rigorously screen Afghan evacuees who are already in the United States, while providing affected Afghans with a four-year, conditional resident status that allows them to assimilate and began new lives in the United States while they are being vetted.
• Set up a more efficient and secure process at the Department of Defense for military servicemen and veterans to refer for priority refugee status America’s Afghan partners who are still outside of the United States.
• Help prevent future threats by reigning in the administration’s abuse of the parole system to bring unvetted individuals into the country.

Bill text may be found here. 

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