As the two-year anniversary of the U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan nears, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are taking another stab at passing legislation that would put Afghan evacuees on a path to citizenship.
But the Senate, where the discussion about helping thousands of Afghan evacuees is focused, appears divided after senators offered two competing measures last week — one bipartisan and one Republican-led. Immigration advocates say that could hinder progress for both bills, and they warn that a Republican bill sponsored by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., could slow, or even siphon support from, the bipartisan bill.
“It’s unfortunate to see that effort and the political nature of it,” said Jill Marie Bussey, director for public policy at the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, a resettlement organization that has endorsed the bipartisan bill. She said Cotton’s bill “lacks seriousness” and is “a partisan piece of legislation that’s obviously not going to go anywhere.”
