House GOP Funding Bill Brings More Than 50,000 Afghans to U.S. On ‘Special Immigrant Visas’

A spending package from House Republicans provides Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) to 50,500 Afghan nationals looking to resettle in the United States. The move comes after former President Joe Biden brought nearly 100,000 Afghans to the U.S. in the largest resettlement operation, which has been plagued with vetting failures, posing serious national security risks.

House GOP leadership had initially sought to increase the number of Afghans brought to the U.S. on SIVs by more than 20,000, but almost a dozen Republicans objected to the plan. As a result, the spending bill allots 50,500 SIVs for Afghans hoping to resettle in American communities.

The State Department Inspector General (IG) has previously noted that the SIV program “relies on Taliban cooperation for SIV applicant relocation from the country because of a lack of a ground presence in Afghanistan.”

“The amendment extends the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program through this year in its current form until the Administration concludes its review of the program,” a senior GOP leadership aide told Politico.

House Republicans’ insistence on continuing the SIV program for Afghans comes after the Biden administration imported almost 100,000 Afghans within months of the U.S. Armed Forces’ retreat from Kabul, Afghanistan — many of whom were not screened or vetted in person by federal agents, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the State Department has admitted.

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Most of the unvetted Afghans flagged for possible terrorism ties, the DOD IG report stated, have since disappeared into American communities. The report noted that as of September 17, 2021, only three of 31 Afghans flagged with specific “derogatory information” could be located.

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