Expert: Biden Can Use Parole Authority to Help Afghans

Aline Barros, VOA, Aug. 19, 2021

"Despite round-the-clock efforts by the military to evacuate Afghans loyal to the United States in the wake of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan just days ago, immigration experts say it is unknown how many of them will actually be admitted to the U.S. as refugees. With less than two months left in the current fiscal year, the U.S. is on track to finish with the lowest number of refugee admissions ever recorded — a testament in part to the anti-immigration sentiment among many Americans that flourished under former President Donald Trump and persists during the Biden administration. ... Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law professor at Cornell University, told VOA in an email the administration could use an existing immigration process to allow refugees into the country: humanitarian parole. “Humanitarian parole is used to bring someone who is not otherwise eligible to enter the country, or who does not have a visa, into the United States temporarily because of an emergency or urgent humanitarian reason,” Yale-Loehr explained. Although a bipartisan group of 46 U.S. senators urged the administration to use this humanitarian relief, it is unknown if Biden officials will heed their pleas."