Thousands more Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) for Afghans who helped the U.S. during its 20-year war are part of the $1.2 trillion spending bill approved in the House Friday.
The spending bill is meant to fund the government and avert a partial shutdown. The Senate is expected to take it up today.
San Diego Navy veteran Shawn VanDiver is the co-founder of #AfghanEvac, a volunteer organization that has helped lead the effort to resettle Afghans in the U.S.
He said thousands of Afghans took significant risks for themselves and their families in helping the U.S. during its 20-year occupation of Afghanistan.
"They earned a place in our communities," VanDiver said in an interview Thursday. "They earned a Special Immigrant Visa."
The government caps the number of SIVs that may be issued in a single year at 38,500. Only about 7,000 remain this year for the roughly 20,000 Afghans nearing final approval.
The visas are important, VanDiver said, because for most of the tens of thousands of Afghans who fled to the U.S., there is no legal path to permanent residency.
One bill, the Afghan Adjustment Act, would have streamlined the process, but it's stalled over Republican opposition.
Democratic and Republican House leaders agreed on the 12,000 additional visas as part of a compromise — Democrats originally asked for 20,000.
VanDiver estimates there are about 2,500 evacuated Afghans in San Diego waiting for a legal path to permanent residency, be it through the SIV program or the asylum system.
