II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3433 

To require a strategy to support nationals of Afghanistan who are applicants 

for special immigrant visas or for referral to the United States Refugee 

Admissions Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 17, 2021 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. GRAHAM, Ms. ERNST, and Mr. CARDIN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To require a strategy to support nationals of Afghanistan 

who are applicants for special immigrant visas or for 

referral to the United States Refugee Admissions Program, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Honor Our Commit5 ment Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that the United States 

8 should increase support for nationals of Afghanistan who 


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1 aided the United States mission in Afghanistan during the 

2 past 20 years and are now under threat from the Taliban, 

3 specifically such nationals of Afghanistan, in Afghanistan 

4 or third countries, who are applicants for— 

5 (1) special immigrant visas under the Afghan 

6 Allies Protection Act of 2009 (8 U.S.C. 1101 note; 

7 Public Law 111–8) or section 1059 of the National 

8 Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (8 

9 U.S.C. 1101 note; Public Law 109–163); or 

10 (2) referral to the United States Refugee Ad11 missions Program as refugees (as defined in section 

12 101(a)(42) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

13 (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(42))), including as Priority 2 ref14 ugees. 

15 SEC. 3. STRATEGY TO SUPPORT CERTAIN NATIONALS OF 

16 AFGHANISTAN. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

18 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, 

19 in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security, 

20 the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and 

21 the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agen22 cies, shall submit to the appropriate committees of Con23 gress a strategy for the safe processing abroad of nationals 

24 of Afghanistan described in section 2. 


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1 (b) ELEMENTS.—The strategy required by subsection 

2 (a) shall include a detailed plan— 

3 (1) to prioritize for evacuation from Afghani4 stan nationals of Afghanistan described in section 2; 

5 (2) to provide for security checks for such na6 tionals of Afghanistan, which— 

7 (A) shall be conducted remotely before de8 parture from Afghanistan; and 

9 (B) shall not take the place of post-depar10 ture security screening; 

11 (3) to facilitate, after such security checks, the 

12 rapid departure from Afghanistan by air charter and 

13 land passage of such nationals of Afghanistan who 

14 satisfy the requirements of such security checks; 

15 (4) to provide letters of support, diplomatic 

16 notes, and other documentation, as appropriate, to 

17 ease transit for such nationals of Afghanistan; 

18 (5) to engage governments of relevant countries 

19 to better facilitate evacuation of such nationals of 

20 Afghanistan; 

21 (6) to disseminate frequent updates to such na22 tionals of Afghanistan and relevant nongovernmental 

23 organizations with respect to evacuation from Af24 ghanistan; 


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1 (7) to identify and establish sufficient locations 

2 outside Afghanistan and the United States that will 

3 accept such nationals of Afghanistan during case 

4 processing (including during the processes of secu5 rity checks and establishing the eligibility of such 

6 nationals of Afghanistan before their travel to the 

7 United States, which shall include any in-person 

8 interview required for full adjudication of a case 

9 and, in the case of a special immigrant visa, 

10 issuance of such visa) for— 

11 (A) the special immigrant visas described 

12 in paragraph (1) of section 2; or 

13 (B) referral to, and acceptance for resettle14 ment in the United States by, the United States 

15 Refugee Admissions Program described in para16 graph (2) of that section; 

17 (8) to identify necessary resource, personnel, 

18 and equipment requirements to increase capacity to 

19 better support such nationals of Afghanistan and re20 duce their application processing times, while ensur21 ing strict and necessary security checks, including, 

22 to the extent practicable, by allowing such nationals 

23 of Afghanistan to receive referrals to the United 

24 States Refugee Admissions Program while they are 


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1 still in Afghanistan so as to initiate application proc2 essing more expeditiously; and 

3 (9) to provide for relocation outside Afghani4 stan to third countries for nationals of Afghanistan 

5 described in section 2 who are unable to successfully 

6 complete security checks and application processing 

7 to establish eligibility to travel to the United States. 

8 (c) FORM.—The strategy required by subsection (a) 

9 shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include 

10 a classified annex. 

11 SEC. 4. MONTHLY REPORT. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

13 date of the enactment of this Act, and monthly thereafter 

14 until December 31, 2022, the Secretary of State, in co15 ordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security and 

16 the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agen17 cies, shall submit to the appropriate committees of Con18 gress a report on efforts to support nationals of Afghani19 stan described in section 2. 

20 (b) ELEMENTS.—Each report required by subsection 

21 (a) shall include the following: 

22 (1) The number of nationals of Afghanistan re23 ferred to the United States Refugee Admissions Pro24 gram as Priority 1 and Priority 2 refugees since Au25 gust 29, 2021. 


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1 (2) An assessment of whether each such ref2 ugee— 

3 (A) remains in Afghanistan; or 

4 (B) is outside Afghanistan. 

5 (3) With respect to nationals of Afghanistan 

6 who have applied for referral to the United States 

7 Refugee Program, the number of applications that— 

8 (A) have been approved; 

9 (B) have been denied; and 

10 (C) are pending adjudication. 

11 (4) The number of nationals of Afghanistan 

12 who have pending applications for special immigrant 

13 visas described in section 2(1), disaggregated by the 

14 special immigrant visa processing steps completed 

15 with respect to such individuals. 

16 (5) A description of the measures taken to im17 plement the strategy under section 3. 

18 SEC. 5. DEFINITION OF APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF 

19 CONGRESS. 

20 In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate committees of 

21 Congress’’ means— 

22 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 

23 Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on 

24 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; and 

25 the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate; and 


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1 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

2 Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on 

3 Homeland Security, and the Committee on Armed 

4 Services of the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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