Dated: September 9, 2021
New York, NY
Last week U.S. House of Representatives Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE) introduced the “Welcoming Evacuees Coming from Overseas to Mitigate Effects of Displacement Act of 2021,” also known as the WELCOMED Act. If passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden, the Act will provide Afghan entrants into the U.S. with the same benefits other refugees receive under federal law and for the same length of time. 
UNITED SIKHS has been at the forefront of the rescue and humanitarian aid efforts in Afghanistan since before February 2020, when the U.S. signed the Afghanistan Peace Agreement. “We have seen entire families perish in terrorist attacks against religious minorities in their places of worship.  Despite the assurances that religious minorities will be protected, in March 2020, terrorist attacks killed 25 Sikhs in their place of worship and an estimated 73 more recently in a terrorist bombing near a Kabul airport.  Without the U.S. and allied presence, many Afghan Sikhs and Hindus believe the persecution of religious minorities is likely to continue. 
Following the violent takeover of major cities in Afghanistan by the Taliban, religious minorities and supporters of the foreign forces fled.  Not-for-profit charitable organizations like UNITED SIKHS made extraordinary efforts to cover the financial needs of many Afghan refugees who fled but who are not eligible for placement services and financial resources. The WELCOMED bill, if enacted, would ease the suffering of Afghans seeking to resettle in the U.S.  It will also assist public charities to meet their other emergency needs with public donations.
The U.S. objective remains to secure a peaceful Afghanistan. However, in light of increased levels of violence following the military withdrawal, the U.S. government is working to provide certain Afghans, including those who worked with the United States, the opportunity to seek resettlement in the U.S. This designation expanded the opportunity to permanently resettle in the United States to many thousands of Afghans and their immediate family members who may be at risk due to their U.S. affiliation but who are not eligible for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) because they did not have qualifying employment, or because they have not met the time-in-service requirement to become eligible. 
“Access to the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) is a critical mechanism to provide protection for Afghan refugees and the WELCOMED Act will enhance those protections,” states Gurvinder Singh, International Humanitarian Aid Director at UNITED SIKHS.  
A coordinated U.S. federal policy and a comprehensive strategy would ensure that refugee resettlement is the product of a consorted national effort.  Thousands of at-risk Afghans are arriving in the U.S. without approved visas, placing them in precarious legal and bureaucratic limbo that renders them ineligible for federal programs available to those admitted as refugees,” states Mr. Singh.
Delays in granting visas for those who remain outside of the U.S. place them at risk of unbearable human suffering.  Immediate humanitarian parole to individuals who are presently at risk from the Taliban regime—especially women and children.  “The efforts to assist this vulnerable population requires an increase in funding to meet the needs, staffing at the Department of State and Department of Homeland Security to clear existing backlogs, access to free legal services to ensure the applications are processed expeditiously and with fewer errors, and collaboration with community charitable groups that could ensure that families have the proper tools to resettle in the United States,” states Wanda Sanchez Day, UNITED SIKHS National Legal Director.  “This must include financial and medical resources, as well as English language training, employment authorization and childhood education, she stated.”
UNITED SIKHS also urges the Biden administration to ensure that refugees’ rights, granted under Article 12(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, are assured to all Afghans.  Article 12(2) provides that: “Everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his/her own,” subject to limited lawful restrictions.  
UNITED SIKHS applauds the introduction of the WELCOMED bill and the Congressional members who have the will to sponsor and assist vulnerable communities through this legislation. It is an enormous step in the United States’ efforts to provide assistance to the people who have had to flee Afghanistan.   
If you are in need of assistance, please reach out to UNITED SIKHS at contact@UNITEDSIKHS.org.