Despite bipartisan support for at-risk Afghans, the administration has wound down an office in the State Department to resettle Afghan refugees and Special Immigrant Visa recipients. 

Now, a bill to support Afghan relocation efforts is gaining support in the U.S. House of Representatives. Contact your House member today to urge them to join this Global Refuge-endorsed bill or to ensure its passage. 

Thousands of at-risk Afghans were left behind in the aftermath of the 2021 withdrawal and evacuation from Afghanistan.

In the years following the withdrawal, an office in the State Department called the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) made tremendous strides to streamline Afghan refugee and Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) processing for Afghans, to relocate eligible Afghans out of Afghanistan, to process and vet them in third countries like Qatar and Albania, and to coordinate resettlement efforts in the United States.

Recognizing those strides, Congress voted in December 2024 to authorize this office to continue its work for three more years.

Yet, the CARE office’s operations have wound down this year due to policy decisions by the administration– lapsing contracts, laying off staff, suspending refugee resettlement, and freezing relocation assistance out of Afghanistan.

In August, Rep. Kamlager-Dove of California, Rep. McCaul of Texas, Rep. Titus of Nevada, and Rep. Lawler of New York introduced the bipartisan Enduring Welcome Act. This bill would further reinforce CARE’s statutory mandate and further clarify the scope of its work. It would also codify the office for five years, past the current Congressional authorization through the end of 2027.

Parts of the Enduring Welcome Act were included in the larger State Department Reauthorization Act effort in the House, reflecting a bipartisan willingness to build momentum for the Enduring Welcome Act and to ensure that the work of CARE continues.

As Afghan SIVs continue to travel to the United States and the administration weighs the future of the U.S. refugee program, the Enduring Welcome Act is a timely piece of legislation to strengthen and protect Afghan resettlement in the months and years ahead.

Reach out to your House member today to urge them to co-sponsor HR 4995 or support its inclusion in a larger piece of legislation like State Reauthorization or the National Defense Authorization Act process.