Key facts
- Rep. Jason Crow said he would file a discharge petition Monday night to force a vote on a bill preserving TPS for Afghans.
- Slightly over 8,000 Afghans risk deportation after DHS ended TPS for Afghanistan.
- DHS said in a court filing it plans to continue with deportation flights scheduled for November 16.
- Crow will have to net 218 signatures, winning over four GOP members, to force a floor vote.
- Pakistan said the deportation plan is still under review, and the Taliban said they are opposed.
- ICE said it does not comment on prospective removal operations and would not confirm future removal operations.
Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Republican and veteran who was deployed to Afghanistan, said he would file a discharge petition Monday night to force a vote on a bill that would preserve Temporary Protected Status for Afghans. The report gives the day of the week but not the date.
Slightly over 8,000 Afghans risk deportation after the Department of Homeland Security ended TPS for Afghanistan. The Supreme Court over the summer found courts had little power to review suspensions of TPS, allowing protections to be stripped for citizens of 13 countries.
Crow said in a statement that Afghan partners "put their lives on the line to help protect American servicemembers like me" and that keeping the promise to them is "both a moral and national security imperative." He said he is working to force a vote "because I won't let our nation leave these brave Afghans behind."
The effort comes as the administration has threatened to deport Afghan nationals to Pakistan as soon as mid-November, with a plan to then return them to Afghanistan. In a court filing, DHS said it plans to continue with deportation flights scheduled for November 16. Pakistan has said the plan is still under review, and the Taliban has said it is opposed.
"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan expresses its serious concern over reports that the United States intends to deport some Afghan refugees to Pakistan who have not yet been able to obtain legal residency documents in that country," foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi said in a statement to EuroNews.
Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac, said the opposition is significant. "When even the Taliban say they have 'serious concern' about your deportation plan, it is time to stop and ask what you are doing," he said. He added that "this administration wants to drop the families of America's allies in the middle of it" and called it "abandonment with a boarding pass."
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it does not comment on prospective removal operations, including flight schedules, passenger manifests, destinations or individual case details, and would not confirm future removal operations for operational security reasons and the safety of its officers.
Crow has bipartisan support. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska and Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, who released a campaign video asserting that Trump had gone too far on immigration, are among the measure's co-sponsors. Crow will have to net 218 signatures, winning over four GOP members, to force a vote on the floor.
Earlier this year, the House passed a bill to restore TPS for Haiti when several GOP members backed a discharge petition to restore protections for citizens of that country. That bill has languished in the Senate, where GOP leadership has not brought it to the floor. Senate Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton of Arkansas has been a vocal opponent of past efforts to give status to Afghans who entered the country as part of the evacuation effort under the Biden administration.
Rep. Sam Liccardo, a California Democrat and co-sponsor of the measure with Crow, said in a statement that "this cannot wait until the Democratic majority takes over" and that TPS should be reinstated immediately to keep "our friends safe."