A group of U.S. lawmakers has urged the Trump administration to take immediate action on behalf of Afghan allies and family members of U.S. service members and veterans who remain stranded outside the United States.
Rep. Scott Peters, a California Democrat, led a group of 20 House and Senate members who sent a letter on September 29 to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. The lawmakers called for the administration to prioritize cases involving the reunification of U.S. military families and Afghans whose immediate family members are legally residing in the United States.
The lawmakers said nearly 3,000 immediate family members of U.S. service members and veterans, including spouses, children and parents, remain outside the United States. They also highlighted Afghans and their relatives who were vetted by U.S. authorities and transferred to Qatar while awaiting decisions on relocation or admission to the United States.
The letter specifically calls for cases involving military families and eligible Afghan family-reunification applicants to be given priority, including people currently staying at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar. The lawmakers also urged the administration to consider a broader legal mechanism that would reduce the need for individual, case-by-case exceptions.
“No servicemember should have to choose between serving our country and being reunited with their family,” the lawmakers said in the letter, emphasizing the obligation they believe the United States has toward military families and Afghans who supported the U.S. mission.
The congressional appeal comes as the Trump administration has faced continued pressure over the future of Afghan allies stranded in Qatar. The Associated Press reported that the administration agreed to extend the operation of Camp As Sayliyah for nine months, avoiding its previously planned closure at the end of the U.S. fiscal year. The camp houses more than 1,000 Afghans who supported the U.S. war effort or are relatives of U.S. service members.
AP reported that the camp’s residents include Afghans who worked as interpreters and in other roles supporting U.S. forces, as well as relatives of American service members. The extension provides additional time for the administration to determine their future, although it does not itself establish a permanent pathway to the United States.
The latest letter is part of a broader series of congressional efforts this year concerning Afghan allies, Special Immigrant Visa applicants and Afghan families separated by U.S. immigration and refugee-policy changes. Earlier in April, Sen. Richard Blumenthal and 28 other senators also urged the administration to halt plans to relocate more than 1,000 Afghan allies from Qatar to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
