U.S. expands eligibility for Afghans and others seeking entry on humanitarian grounds
CBSN
The Biden administration quietly expanded eligibility rules for immigrants requesting humanitarian entry into the U.S. amid mounting criticism over the rejection of thousands of applications from Afghans seeking refuge from the Taliban, internal government guidance and training materials obtained by CBS News show.
The policy changes, implemented internally this spring, concern a decades-old legal authority called parole that allows U.S. immigration officials to authorize immigrants who don't have visas to enter the country if they have urgent humanitarian needs or if their arrival furthers a "significant public benefit."
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agency that oversees the legal immigration system, typically receives about 2,000 parole requests from immigrants abroad per year. But the number of parole applications spiked dramatically after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021.
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