Thanks to Historic Settlement, U.S. Government Close to Meeting Requirements for Afghan Asylum Applicants

The U.S. government is finally making strides to review the outstanding applications from Afghan people who sought asylum after helping the U.S. in Afghanistan. Since Kirkland & Ellis and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) filed their lawsuit, Ahmed v. DHS, N.D. Cal. No. 4:23-cv-1892, and achieved a historic settlement, the government has adjudicated over 17,000 asylum applications – with almost all those applications resulting in a grant of asylum.

The settlement applies to Afghan people who evacuated from Afghanistan in 2021 and entered the U.S. under Operation Allies Welcome.

Before Kirkland and NIJC got involved, pro bono, the government had only adjudicated about 1,800 asylum applications from this group over the course of 18 months, and many applications remained pending well past the 150-day adjudication deadline set by Congress. 

As required by the settlement, the U.S. government has now adjudicated more than 18,000 applications, clearing over 90% of the backlog of overdue applications. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has found that applicants ineligible for asylum occurred in only 60—or about 0.3%—of those cases, an unsurprising result given the extreme risk that Afghan people who helped the U.S. or advocated for civil rights face from the Taliban.

“We have remained vigilant in insuring that the U.S. government doesn’t drag its feet on these applications,” said Kirkland partner Michael Williams, who is a lead on this pro bono case.

“Those facing asylum took so many risks to help the U.S. in Afghanistan and we want them to get their applications approved in a timely manner so that they and their families avoid danger in their country. This is a life and death situation.”

“Decisions on asylum applications are critical to the safety and well-being of the people who apply and their families,” said Richard Caldarone, senior litigation attorney at NIJC. “It should not take litigation for the U.S. government to honor its legal and moral obligations to its allies, but we are pleased that DHS has now provided long-term security to so many of those forced to flee Afghanistan in 2021 because of their support for democracy and human rights.”

The Timeline:

• August 2021: After the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Congress passed a law committing to expedite asylum decisions for Afghan people fleeing to the U.S. and to issue those decisions within 150 days. Despite that commitment, thousands of Afghan people were still waiting for an asylum decision well past the 150-day deadline. Many of them have spouses and children trapped in Afghanistan, where they are living under constant threat of danger. 

• April 2023: When the U.S. government fell behind on its commitment, Kirkland and the NIJC filed pro bono Ahmed v. DHS, case no. 4:23-CV-01892, to compel the U.S. government to expedite adjudication of these applications. The plaintiffs are women's rights advocates, a healthcare worker, a teacher, a journalist, and people who worked for U.S. agencies in Afghanistan. 

o Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, it challenged the systematic failure of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to adjudicate the asylum applications filed by seven plaintiffs, and tens of thousands of other asylum applicants like them, within the 150-day deadline set by Congress. 

• September 2023: The class reached a settlement -- one of the largest asylum adjudication class action settlements in U.S. history -- with the U.S. government in September 2023, after seeking a nationwide injunction on behalf of Afghan asylum applicants who awaited a decision past the 150-day deadline set by Congress. A number of those asylum applicants had been waiting for a decision for nearly two years after arrival. The settlement agreement set several interim deadlines for the U.S. government to meet its obligations to these asylum applicants.

• October 2023: The U.S. government met its first major deadline from the settlement. The settlement provides protections to the class members though October 2025.

• May 2024:  Kirkland and NIJC have been keeping a close eye on the U.S. government’s progress in complying with the settlement.  The U.S. government reported on May 14, 2024 that it is down to about 2,400 pending applications left and only 1,600 of those applications were filed before December 2, 2023 (i.e., have been pending longer than 150 days as of May 1, 2024). 

If you want to talk with any of the lawyers leading this from Kirkland and NIJC, please contact us.