Hope for Afghans In Spite of Ongoing Adversity
With your help in 2021, the legal services team at The Hope Center for Refugees and Immigrants, quickly filed and raised funds for 120+ Afghan humanitarian parole applications last August.
As Afghanistan collapsed, thousands of people who were not able to board those evacuation flights put their hope in parole applications, which were being filed by Cleveland-area Afghans for their trapped family members. Our community of supporters were hoping, too, and gave generously to fund the application fees.
"We worked around the clock on some of those applications and prayed over each and every one of them," says Nick Tribuzzo, BHITC immigration attorney.
So what has happened since? Afghanistan is rarely a news headline these days, but the ripple effects are far from over. Beginning in December, Nick and his team began receiving denial letters for the parole applications we funded with your support. You may have seen this reported via news outlets. For reasons not yet known, the legal "standard of proof" required to receive this status has dramatically changed, making it nearly impossible for anyone to receive this status.
The result has many Cleveland-area Afghans anxious for their family members, and many displaced place people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other countries, with an uncertain pathway to safety and reunification with their family members here in the US.
See below for how you can voice your concerns through us, and others, to our Congress about a better outcome for our Afghan brothers and sisters. Nothing happens without God's notice or control. All things work for the good of those who love Him. Join us in praying over this unexpected and troubling situation. Keep reading for tangible ways you can use your voice to support Afghans!
BHITC Redirects Nearly $20K in Remaining Funds to Support Trapped Afghans
The fees for denied Humanitarian Parole applications will not be returned or reimbursed to agencies like BHITC and many others nationally.
However, unintended delays in filing some Parole applications due to COVID and the holidays left BHITC with a balance of nearly $20,000 to date, thanks to our generous donors.
Those funds are being put to critical use right now!
We redeployed the funds last month to support Afghans trapped in Pakistan who have family members in Cleveland. Your donations are providing food, shelter and safe travel for nearly 100 people who are living in an unimaginable and uncertain situation.
Thank you for giving and trusting BHITC to use your donations to bless refugees, here and abroad!
Watch for more information in the coming weeks on how you can partner with BHITC to continue supporting the hundreds of Afghan arrivals already in Cleveland and the hundreds more to arrive this year. It will surely “take a village” to make them feel welcome, and you are needed more than ever.
Urge Congress to Provide a Path to Permanent Status for Afghan Parolees
For the early arriving Afghans who were granted parolee status, it is necessary for Congress to act to provide a way for these vulnerable folks to apply for permanent status.
If Congress fails to act, these Afghans will find themselves in an unstable, perpetual “temporary” status, alongside TPS and DACA recipients. Add your name to the letter here and ask your Members of Congress to provide a path to permanent status for all of these groups. The Evangelical Immigration Table will deliver the completed letter with the contact information of all signatories to the congressional delegation representing your state.