Speech #1130112156

Mr. Speaker. H.R. 5195 accomplishes the important goal of allowing these additional 1.000 Afghan Special Immigrant Visas to be issued before the end of the calendar year. As has been mentioned. this program was established in 2009 to protect Afghan nationals who were placed in grave danger because they were employed by or assisted the United States Government. Having benefited greatly from their faithful service. Members on both sides of the aisle recognized that we owed a debt of gratitude. We owed these people and their family members the opportunity to live safely and freely. The Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program has not been without its problems. Many of us have come together over the years to complain that the process for issuing the visas was too slow and cumbersome. Mr. Speaker. from the start of the program through fiscal year 2012. only 1.051 of the 8.500 visas authorized by statute had actually been issued to deserving Afghan nationals. In October of 2012. The Washington Post reported that more than 5.000 Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applications were sitting in a backlog waiting to be adjudicated. Secretary Kerry recently stated that because of "unconscionably long processing times for applicants. some deserving people were simply falling through the cracks." Now. recently. the program has undergone major improvements. In this fiscal year alone. the State Department has issued more Afghan Special Immigrant Visas than in all previous years combined. The process is now moving swiftly enough that we are coming right up against the cap of 3.000 visas that we set earlier this year in the approps act. That is where this bill comes in. By making these visas available to Afghan nationals who are facing danger precisely because they provided service to our country. to America. this bill will help ensure that we stand by our commitment to protect those who helped to protect us. I think it is worth noting that keeping our commitment to these peoplethe large majority of whom acted as our translators in the fieldis not merely a good in and of itself. It is important that the United States stands by its commitment here because we ultimately have to work collaboratively with people all over the globe.