More than 70k Afghan refugees may face deportation if Congress fails to act.

More than 70,000 Afghan refugees  who were evacuated to the US  after the Taliban takeover are at risk of losing their work permits and, far worse, could face deportation by this summer if congress fails to extend their stay with something called the Afghan Adjustment Act in time. These refugees worked with the US forces during our longest war, and they and their families would almost certainly face torture and death at the hands of the Taliban if they were sent back to Afghanistan. The fate of these people is almost never discussed in the highly repetitive news cycle in the US. Yet we not only recruited them in Afghanistan, but brought them here after the withdrawal of US forces. Then we failed to provide a path to citizenship for them, in stark contrast to the resettlement of former war refugees that stuck their necks out for the US such as those in Vietnam. A few members of congress  claim they were "not sufficiently vetted." This is not only untrue, but in order to settle them more vetting would be required anyway. Clearly they pose no risk, as we have heard nothing about terrorism plots that a few paranoid voices in politics and the media have occasionally warned about. They are victims and not perpetrators of terror. The real threat of terrorism here comes from our own radical Right, as emphasized on this blog regularly. 

A few days ago, PBS aired this interview with Krish Vignarajah, herself a refugee who runs the highly effective Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. It is a heartbreaking and enraging interview. These people really need our help. The US spreads death and destruction with impunity through its wars and interventions;  then consigns those who sincerely tried to help themselves and the US to oblivion-- or worse prolonged ordeals of torture. We  don't hear much about the aftermath of Afghanistan a year and a half after the US withdrawal.  If any of you are able, please consider making a donation to LIRS here or any other credible and effective charity that is helping this tragically neglected population. Here is the PBS interview with Krish Vignarajah: