News

Soon after the U.S. government’s hasty and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer, the United States received over 80,000 Afghan evacuees, many of whom were at added risk due to their association with the U.S. government during the two-decade war. Ninety percent of these migrants entered the country on humanitarian parole (HP), which allows them to live and work in the U.S. for two years, but does not provide a path to permanent residency, leaving them in legal limbo. The Afghan Adjustment Act (AAA), would allow Afghans with humanitarian parole to apply for permanent legal status and would expand the categories of Afghans eligible for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs).

As we recognize National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, many of the essential workers who put food on our tables, keep us healthy, and care for our loved ones continue to be at risk of exploitation. Many foreign-born essential workers, particularly those on temporary worker visas or those lacking work authorization, are victims of wage theft or survivors of human trafficking with few options for leaving those abusive circumstances. Perpetrators traffic individuals into agriculture, restaurant, factory, construction, domestic, and other work, industries in which enforcement of labor protections needs vast improvement. 

As Covid-19 vaccination rates increase and infections plummet, our society is reopening and a feeling of normalcy is returning for many of us. But those hit hardest by the pandemic, including immigrants and people of color, are returning to communities devastated by a disproportionately high death toll, rampant job loss, and the compounding traumas of the past four years, including hostile immigration policies, toxic rhetoric, surging hate crimes, and a massive racial reckoning. Not everyone has the privilege of returning to normal, and, even before the pandemic, “normal” was not working for everyone.