These Afghans “fled a clearly credible fear of Taliban persecution and thus almost certainly meet the legal definition of a refugee,” but most “have only temporary parole and employment authorization that bears an expiration date, with no direct path to pursue permanent residency,” the EIT letter says.
With “no likelihood” of a safe return to their home “in the foreseeable future,” these Afghans “want to rebuild their lives” in this country, the EIT organizations wrote, adding: “[O]nly permanent legal status can provide” confidence they “fully belong” in the United States.
The EIT organizations also asked Congress to make sure the United States continues to accept Afghans who have experienced or face the threat of persecution by the Taliban.
In addition to the ERLC, the other EIT organizations are the National Association of Evangelicals, World Relief, Bethany Christian Services, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, Faith and Community Empowerment, National Latino Evangelical Coalition and The Wesleyan Church.
EIT members urged President Biden in a letter two days after the Taliban takeover last August to fulfill a long-standing commitment to protect and resettle this country’s Afghan allies. They asked the administration to make certain Afghans who qualify for Special Immigrant Visas because they served the United States and their immediate families are evacuated to a safe location for processing. The EIT members also requested protection for those likely to be persecuted by the Taliban.
In addition, the ERLC joined more than 30 other organizations and nearly 40 individuals in an October letter urging the Biden administration to create a new Priority 2 refugee status category for Afghan religious minorities to speed up the process while maintaining thorough vetting procedures. EIT members had made a similar request in their August letter.
This article originally appeared on BaptistPress.com.
 has joined other evangelical Christian organizations in calling on Congress to enable Afghans evacuated to the United States to seek permanent residency.){kind=link}