Oct 17, 2023

Sen. Moran hopes to see Afghan Adjustment Act completed by the end of the year

Posted Oct 17, 2023 5:49 PM

Bill would help refugees resettle in the United States

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas visits Garden City as part of his annual tour of the state. (AJ Dome/Kansas Reflector)
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas visits Garden City as part of his annual tour of the state. (AJ Dome/Kansas Reflector)

BY: AJ DOME
Kansas Reflector

GARDEN CITY — U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas said he anticipates advancing the Afghan Adjustment Act closer to passage by the end of the year.

Moran told a small audience at a listening stop in Garden City on Thursday that he expects the bill that would help refugees from Afghanistan resettle in the U.S. will receive the support it needs to be passed in 2024.

Mohammad Hassani, a resettled Afghan now working as a refugee case manager for Catholic Charities in Garden City, asked Moran when he thought the bill might become law, following two previous attempts by lawmakers to pass it. The crowd applauded when Hassani said his special immigrant visa, which allows him to legally live and work in the U.S., was approved last month.

“There’s more than 150 Afghans living here in Garden City, and I’m here on behalf of all of the Afghans here,” Hassani said. “Are there any updates? Because we’re so hopeful for the approval of this bill.”

Moran said there are “a couple of senators” who are objecting to some of the details of the bill, and that he and others in the chamber are “working to solve their objections.”

“It’s like every immigration bill in the United States, in Congress,” Moran said. “It is picked to death, and nothing seems to happen. The goal is to have this bill completed by the end of the year.”

Moran later clarified for Kansas Reflector that Sen. Tom Cotton, a veteran from Arkansas, is one of those objecting to the bill.

The Hill reported in August that Cotton presented his own resettlement bill as an alternative to the Afghan Adjustment Act, which was reintroduced a few weeks earlier. Cotton’s bill didn’t secure any Democratic co-sponsors and ultimately failed. When the Afghan Adjustment Act gained support from both Democrats and Republicans and was slated to become an amendment to a defense policy bill, Cotton’s office put a hold on that amendment, effectively stalling it.

The Hill quoted a statement from Cotton’s office that supported legal stability and paths to citizenship for refugees, but it read in part, “we can’t cut corners or risk giving green cards to terrorists embedded in the evacuated masses.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, also objected to the Afghan Adjustment Act when it was first introduced last year. The bill would allow Afghans who are admitted to the U.S. with a temporary humanitarian status to apply for permanent legal residency with less interference from the asylum system or the Special Immigrant Visa program — both of which experience severe backlogs and lengthy processing times.

It would also expand the Special Immigrant Visa to include previously omitted specialized military groups such as the Female Tactical Platoon of Afghanistan and the Special Mission Wing of Afghanistan. Soldiers in both groups served alongside U.S. special forces during the two-decade conflict. The Female Tactical Platoon is composed of more than 100 Afghan women who have taken up arms against the Taliban since 2021. The Special Mission Wing is a swift response team that is a subset of the Afghan Air Force.

Additionally, the law would create a task force to develop methods for supporting Afghans outside of the U.S. who are eligible for the Special Immigrant Visa.

Along with his Garden City stop, Moran also visited Lakin and Syracuse Thursday to listen to residents’ questions and concerns as part of his annual listening tour.