Resolution Urging Congress and POTUS to Evacuate and Protect Interpreters, their Families, and Other Afghan Nationals Who Assisted US and NATO Forces Before US Withdrawal from Afghanistan
| Model Bill Info | |
|---|---|
| Bill Title | Resolution Urging Congress and POTUS to Evacuate and Protect Interpreters, their Families, and Other Afghan Nationals Who Assisted US and NATO Forces Before US Withdrawal from Afghanistan |
| Date Introduced | July 30, 2021 |
| Date Finalized | August 25, 2021 |
| Type | Model Resolution |
| Status | Final |
| Task Forces | Federalism and International Relations |
Resolution Urging Congress and POTUS to Evacuate and Protect Interpreters, their Families, and Other Afghan Nationals Who Assisted US and NATO Forces Before US Withdrawal from Afghanistan
WHEREAS, on April 14, 2021, President Joe Biden announced that the United States and its international partners will withdraw their military forces from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, despite persistent violence between the Taliban and Afghan government and Taliban links with Al Qaeda; and
WHEREAS, due to the nature of their job, more than 17,000 Afghan interpreters and translators who worked with the U.S. Armed Forces now face serious threats of violence or death from the Taliban, and their paperwork for Special Immigration Visas still remains in review due to a program backlog; and
WHEREAS, in 1975, the United States carried out evacuations such as Operation New Life and Operation Babylift where more than 110,000 Vietnamese nationals who have worked for or been closely associated with the United States during the Vietnam War were evacuated from South Vietnam to Guam to be housed throughout the process of resettlement to the United States and other nations; and
WHEREAS, comparable to the U.S. Government’s humanitarian evacuation efforts after the Vietnam War, the United States now has a similar moral obligation to establish a safe harbor for the courageous men and women who undertook significant risks to support U.S. military and civilian personnel in Afghanistan; and
WHEREAS, the review process for Special Immigration Visas for safe resettlement in the United States must be expedited to the greatest extent possible; and in the meantime, migrants shall be transported to U.S. territories and locations outside of Afghanistan where their cases can be reviewed for possible resettlement;
WHEREAS, in view of present U.S. immigration policies that have allowed multiple thousands of illegal immigrants into the United State through our southern borders, now receiving a few thousand Afghani refugees into the United States pales in comparison and our Afghani compatriots should be expeditiously welcomed into the United States; now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED that the state legislature urges the United States Congress and the President of the United States to implement a comprehensive evacuation strategy similar to that used in Guam for the nation of Vietnam for qualified Afghan nationals who have greatly contributed to our national security interests; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, U.S. Senate Majority and Minority Leaders, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, and the acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Afghani Ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C., and the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in Belgium.
