Committee advances resolution urging action on Afghan special immigrant visa delays

The Senate State Affairs Committee reported House Joint Resolution 13 out of committee Saturday, advancing a resolution that urges executive-branch action to address processing failures in the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program.

Henry Thompson, staff presenting for Representative (sponsor absent), told the committee the SIV program, established during U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, was intended to help Iraqis and Afghans who served U.S. forces — for example, as translators — relocate to the United States. Thompson said the program has long faced processing and relocation problems that worsened after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

"The point of the resolution is really to draw attention to this and over to the executive branch to make some affirmative actions to resolve the challenges," Thompson said.

The committee opened public testimony and recorded none at the hearing; Senator Bjorkman moved to report the resolution out of committee with individual recommendations and an attached fiscal note, and the chair heard no objections. The committee recorded the resolution as reported from committee with individual recommendations and the attached fiscal note.

The resolution itself requests attention from the executive branch and does not, by itself, change federal immigration procedures; its effect is to urge federal officials to address processing and relocation shortcomings identified by the sponsor’s office.