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Posted by George W. Maschke
- Jul 18, 2021, 06:15 AMAs noted on the blog, the United States is denying Special Immigrant Visas to Afghans who served honorably with U.S. forces merely because they "failed" a scientifically baseless polygraph "test"—once.
With U.S. forces completing their withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of August, the lives of many of these individuals are in grave danger.
Please write to President Biden and urge him to reverse this policy. You can use this online form. Here is a suggested message, based on the one I sent to him:
Please also write to your member of Congress and to both your senators. Here is a suggested message, similar to the one I sent to President Biden:
With U.S. forces completing their withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of August, the lives of many of these individuals are in grave danger.
Please write to President Biden and urge him to reverse this policy. You can use this online form. Here is a suggested message, based on the one I sent to him:
Code Select
Dear Mr. President,
The U.S. government is denying Special Immigrant Visas to many Afghans who served honorably with our armed forces merely because they failed polygraph screening tests.*
In 2002, the National Academy of Sciences found polygraph screening to be completely invalid, advising that "its accuracy in distinguishing actual or potential security violators from innocent test takers is insufficient to justify reliance on its use in employee security screening in federal agencies."
This being so, it is both wrongheaded and immoral for our government to deny evacuation based on polygraph test results.
I urge you to promptly reverse the policy of denying Special Immigrant Visas based on failed polygraph tests.
Sincerely,
[your name]
* Regarding the denial of visas to those who failed polygraph screening tests, see the Brown University paper on the SIV program, "The Costs of Working with the Americans in Afghanistan: The United States' Broken Special Immigrant Visa Process":
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/files/cow/imce/papers/2021/Costs%20of%20Working%20with%20Americans_Coburn_Costs%20of%20War.pdf
See also the recent Newsy story, Afghan Interpreters Fear Being Left Out of U.S. Evacuation Plans:
https://www.newsy.com/stories/afghan-interpreters-fear-being-left-out-of-evacuation-plans/
Please also write to your member of Congress and to both your senators. Here is a suggested message, similar to the one I sent to President Biden:
Code Select
Dear Representative/Senator __________,
The U.S. government is denying Special Immigrant Visas to many Afghans who served honorably with our armed forces merely because they failed polygraph screening tests.*
In 2002, the National Academy of Sciences found polygraph screening to be completely invalid, advising that "its accuracy in distinguishing actual or potential security violators from innocent test takers is insufficient to justify reliance on its use in employee security screening in federal agencies."
This being so, it is both wrongheaded and immoral for our government to deny evacuation based on polygraph test results.
I urge you to intercede with the Administration to promptly reverse the policy of denying Special Immigrant Visas based on failed polygraph tests.
Sincerely,
[your name]
* Regarding the denial of visas to those who failed polygraph screening tests, see the Brown University paper on the SIV program, "The Costs of Working with the Americans in Afghanistan: The United States' Broken Special Immigrant Visa Process":
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/files/cow/imce/papers/2021/Costs%20of%20Working%20with%20Americans_Coburn_Costs%20of%20War.pdf
See also the recent Newsy story, Afghan Interpreters Fear Being Left Out of U.S. Evacuation Plans:
https://www.newsy.com/stories/afghan-interpreters-fear-being-left-out-of-evacuation-plans/