Treat All Refugees Equally

Target: President Biden

Goal: Allow Afghan refugees expedited entry into the U.S.

All refugees who are fleeing dangerous, war-torn countries should receive equal treatment and consideration by the United States’ refugee processes. However, currently Afghan refugees – who are no more at fault for their plight than those from Ukraine – are subject to more limited policies when seeking refuge in the U.S.

In April 2022, the Biden administration announced its Uniting for Ukraine program, aimed at helping Ukrainian refugees reach the U.S. as quickly as possible through an expedited application process. As a significant global power and the richest country in the world, the United States should work to take in refugees as quickly as possible, and this program is a great way to accomplish this. However, such expedited entry processes should be available to all refugee applications, regardless of their race, religion, or country of origin.

As stated in a May 26th oversite letter to the Biden administration sent by eight U.S. senators, considerations to speed up the refugee process have not been extended to the more than 40,000 applications from Afghanistan. In fact, the letter claims the Biden administration not only failed to speed up the refugee process for Afghans, but actually changed it to burden individuals from Afghanistan with a higher burden of proof for refugee status.

As of May 2022, as cited in the letter, only 270 Afghan refugee applications have been approved since July 2021 – while 6,000 applications from Ukraine have been approved since Russia’s invasion of the country. This shows a blatantly unequal treatment for refugees according to their race, religion, and country of origin. Sign this petition to call on President Biden to push for the equal treatment of ALL refugees by ensuring their applications are treated with the same level of urgency.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear President Biden,

All people fleeing war-torn countries and applying for refugee status in the United States deserve equal treatment and access to safety. Your administration’s policy changes to expedite the process of bringing Ukrainian refugees into the U.S. is a measure which substantially addresses and remedies the danger those from Ukraine face as they flee for their safety. This consideration should be open to all who apply for refugee status in the United States, not just Ukrainians.

According to an oversite letter sent to your administration by eight U.S. Senators, only 270 refugee applications from Afghanistan have been processed since July 2021. In contrast, there have been 6,000 Ukrainian applications processed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This difference in treatment between Ukrainian war refugees and Afghan refugees is blatantly unequal. Those fleeing Afghanistan are no more at fault for their plight than those fleeing Ukraine.

All refugees deserve equal access to safety regardless of their race, religion, or country of origin. I urge you to push for equal treatment of all refugees by extending the expedited considerations to all refugees seeking safety.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: John Englart


2 Comments

  1. All refugees are NOT equal…a good percentage of them come from countries that hate us and mean us harm. Why don’t you stop packing the democratic party with people who are not citizens and look after this country? Why don’t you advocate doing just a little bit of study, Carolyn, and find out just how dangerous our wide open borders are?? Years ago refugees risked their lives to come here legally and enjoy our way of life and freedom. Now there are terrorists mixed in the hordes coming in that mean us harm. DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE ADVOCATING FOR OPEN BORDERS!!!

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