Fox News reported that the Biden administration plans to allow certain individuals into the United States, who were part of the Taliban government in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001.
U.S. Draft document The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), outlines how the Department of Homeland Security will issue a memorandum about the above-mentioned civil servants in order to allow them to be exempted from terrorist-related inadmissibility grounds (TRIG), if they meet other background requirements.
“Many individuals who worked in civil service positions before the declaration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 1996 continued to do so after the declaration,” the document reads in justification of these applicants. “Some did so under duress or other situations of hardship.”
“Some used their positions in humanitarian capacities to mitigate the repressive actions of the Taliban regime, often at great personal risk. Some of these civil servants later worked for or helped the International Security Assistance Force, the U.S. government or the Afghan government that was established in Dec. 22, 2001,” the document states.
One White House official stated that the memo would not affect the vetting process, and that law enforcement counterterrorism officers would continue to screen applicants just as they would any other person entering the country.
“The effect [of the memo] is that people who worked as doctors, grade school teachers, civil servants or low-level government employees wouldn’t automatically be barred from ever entering the United States because they worked in those professions,” the official said.
