Many Evacuated From Afghanistan After U.S. Pull Out Still Waiting for Approval of Asylum Application

Monday, May 15th, 2023 -- 8:00 AM

(By Hope Kirwan, Wisconsin Public Radio) After leaving his home in Afghanistan during the United States military withdrawal in 2021, Sayed Nasrullah Nabil was admitted into the country under what's called humanitarian parole. 

According to Hope Kirwan with Wisconsin Public Radio, it's an infrequently used immigration status that lasts two years and allows a person to work while applying for a more permanent status.

Most of the Afghan evacuees were processed into the country under this status because it allowed immigration officials to move quickly during the emergency evacuation and the Taliban's takeover of Kabul.

But many of these people are still waiting almost two years later to have their application for asylum or a special immigrant visa approved because of a backlog of cases in the immigration system.

Nabil now lives in Wausau and works to help refugees integrate into their new community through the Ethiopian Community Development Council. He estimates that 70 percent of the Afghans his organization works with are still under humanitarian parole, including his own family.

They filed their application for a green card almost eight months ago and they're still waiting to hear back. "It is uncertainty for most of the people, including me and my family," Nabil said. "You don't know what will happen. After your two years of parole ends, then you may not be able to work or may not be able to legally stay here. And it's not in your hands, you know. You don't know what will happen to you."

That's why Nabil and many other refugees and resettlement groups across the state recently celebrated when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that Afghans with humanitarian parole will be able to reapply for their temporary status.

Grant Sovern is an immigration attorney at Quarles & Brady in Madison and is on the board of directors for the Community Immigration Law Center. He said the extension was "desperately needed" and immigration advocacy groups like his have been urging officials to take some kind of action.

"Almost all of the families who have come in with this status are working now, and that's the only support they have for their families," Sovern said. "The real concern was that they were going to run out of their authorization to work in the U.S., which would be terrible for the families and terrible for the employers who employ them."

Sovern said Afghans were initially told their asylum cases would have a decision within 90 days of applying. But U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has not kept to that timeline over the last two years.

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