Monday Morning Update -- December 15, 2025
Congressional hearings, vetting graphics, changes to SNAP, TSA sharing info with ICE, and what you can do about it
Our week featured a short D.C. trip to advocate for our wartime allies on the Hill, prepare for the upcoming hearing (more info below), and to meet with partners working to ensure that Afghans get the support they were promised and have earned.
Although the Administration continues to uphold and expand harmful, overreaching policies that negatively impact both our allies and the veterans they served alongside, we were encouraged to hear from Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle that they know that one person’s actions should not be used to vilify an entire community.
There is a lot going on this week, including a major Senate Judiciary Hearing (we’re submitting a statement for the record that you may want to review), so make sure to read this in it’s entirety and do feel free to share it through email or on social media.
Before we jump into a long list of updates though, there are a few things you can do TODAY to help support this effort.
Call your Member of Congress and tell them that you support our Afghan allies and that the actions of one man should not be used to penalize an entire population of immigrants. Ask them to support the Enduring Welcome Act.
Donate to AfghanEvac – our work is more critical, more pressing, and more intense than ever, and we need to be able to fund our comms and advocacy efforts. Please consider making a recurring donation so we can continue this work for as long as it takes.
Share info about Battle Buddies – we need more veterans and frontline civilians to sign up to stand with our allies in their immigration appearances, especially now as those ramp up.
BIG NEWS for SNAP Benefits
On December 9, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) updated their guidance to clarify that refugees, asylees, and certain other humanitarian arrivals who are lawful permanent residents (green card holders) and Afghan SIVs are exempt from SNAP’s 5-year waiting period. The clarified guidance comes after 21 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the administration for issuing ambiguous guidance. Translated materials on SNAP are available here. For more information, here’s RCUSA’s policy factsheet.
Hill Updates
After meetings with the offices of Reps Jason Crow and Seth Moulton and in-depth, in-person conversation with Reps Michael McCaul, Scott Peters, Joe Wilson, and Jake Auchincloss, it’s clear that there is still bipartisan support in Congress for Afghans who stood with the U.S. mission.
AfghanEvac will continue to work with any office and any Member who wants to stand by our allies – and we are calling on Republicans who were vocal supporters of the Afghans left behind during the Biden Administration to speak up again now for those allies who have already been resettled here, legally and with thorough vetting, who are being targeted by the Trump Administration.
Last Minute Legislative Betrayal
We learned early last week that the Enduring Welcome Act was removed from the NDAA in an eleventh hour move by Speaker Michael Johnson, through HFAC Chairman Brian Mast. By stripping the congressional provision that would have compelled the Administration to restart relocation operations, Congress is signaling that they are willing to abandon our allies once more.
Afghans who came to the U.S. under Operation Allies Welcome and Enduring Welcome were vetted thoroughly, and in most cases, repeatedly. In fact, Afghans are among the most exhaustively vetted immigrants in our nation’s history – and those who remain left behind deserve the opportunity to have their cases processed, just as they were promised.
We need to see the Enduring Welcome Act pass – please call your Member of Congress and tell them you want to see them co-sponsor that bill, bring it to the floor, and vote to pass it.
Congressional Hearings
On Thursday of last week, 12/11, the House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing titled “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland” in which Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem outright lied, under penalty of perjury, about the vetting of Afghans who came to the U.S. during and since the withdrawal in August 2021. Afghans who came to the U.S. during the evacuation were vetted. Afghans who came to the U.S. since the withdrawal were vetted.
Secretary Noem’s continued falsehoods concerning the vetting and background checks of Afghans who entered the U.S. under Operation Allies Welcome and under Enduring Welcome are a purposeful misleading of the American public and an insult to veterans and the Afghans who served with them. We will continue to call out Administration leadership for spreading false information about the Afghans who stood by us through two decades of war.
Two more hearings will take place on the Hill this week, one tomorrow, 12/16 before two subcommittees of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and one Wednesday 12/17 before the House Judiciary Committee.
We know that the committee hearings will focus on vetting and we wanted to share these handy infographics that describe how it all worked. Do not believe anyone saying that Afghans who came here, no matter when they arrived, are unvetted. It is simply a lie. You can visit our vetting page for both summaries and a detailed breakdown of how the vetting works.
Tomorrow (Tuesday Dec 12, 2025), the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Border Security and Crime and Counterterrorism will hold a joint hearing entitled “Biden’s Afghan Parolee Program – A Trojan Horse with Flawed Vetting and Deadly Consequences”. We hope to see significant pushback from witnesses in that hearing on the idea that Afghans were brought to the U.S. without vetting.
See below our graphics illustrating the extensive vetting process for Afghan immigrants who came through OAW and Enduring Welcome.
We’d also love to see those who support our Afghan allies come out in person to the hearing to stand in support. It is open to the public and will take place tomorrow at 9:30AM in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 106. Please do feel free to attend.
On 12/17, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement will hold their own hearing on the Impacts of Temporary Protected Status. Details on that hearing can be found here.
AfghanEvac Continues to Speak Out
As we have since the tragic shooting of two National Guardsmen just a few short weeks ago, we will continue to speak out with facts and truth about what’s actually happening. Our hearts remain with the families of Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe. And we also know that their shooting is being leveraged and politicized by the hardliners within the Administration to enact sweeping immigration crackdowns that have nothing to do with honoring the lives and heroism of our service members.
I wrote an op-ed in the San Diego Union Tribune that ran last week saying just that – the United States Government is using this horrific act of violence to justify the targeting of Afghan refugees.
Battle Buddies – Action Needed
Across the country, we have more than 1,000 veterans and frontline civilians signed up to stand with our Afghan allies in their immigration appearances. We know that the policies being enacted by Trump’s Administration right now are going to make those appointments and hearings even more fraught, so the time is now for Battle Buddies to activate.
As we see more and more detentions across the country, we need more and more veterans to come out and stand with our allies, shoulder to shoulder, just as they stood with us.
If you’re a veteran, frontline civilian, or evac volunteer and not yet signed up, register here today!
If you’re already signed up, make sure you’re checking email for notices on upcoming hearings. If you registered but haven’t yet completed training, let us know – and then we can add you to our active list and keep you up to date.
In the News
PTSD, Isolation, and Scant Support: Afghans Who Helped Fight the Taliban Struggle With Their New Life in the U.S. The Results Are Sometimes Deadly — Time Magazine
Social posts, messages reveal alleged National Guard shooter’s turmoil — Washington Post
Some Republicans express views on restrictions for Afghans coming to the U.S — NPR
TSA is Providing Air Passenger Data to Immigration Agents for Deportation Effort — NYT
Trump administration indefinitely suspends immigration requests for Afghan nationals — NPR
Afghans worried as Trump administration cracks down on their immigration to U.S. — Houston Public Media
I’m an Immigration Lawyer. Trump Is Shattering My Clients’ Lives. — NYT
Germany Cancels Resettlement Plans for 640 Afghan Refugees in Pakistan — Khaama Press
Pakistan considers options as US halts Afghan relocation — The Express Tribune
Afghan ‘Zero Unit’ fighters in the U.S. faced despair before National Guard attack — NPR
None of this work is abstract, and none of it is optional. Real people—our wartime allies and the veterans who served beside them—are being harmed by policy choices made in Washington right now.
AfghanEvac will continue to meet this moment with facts, persistence, and pressure, working with anyone willing to do the right thing and calling out those who will not. We are in this for as long as it takes, and we will not stop until our allies are safe, secure, and able to build the lives they were promised here in the United States.
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Please provide some information about SIV cases.
Always be success and healthy Sir , Thank you for hard work and continuing support afghan allies