Temporary Protected Status

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I remember 9/11 very well. I was in this building meeting with Senator Daschle just down the hall, and we heard news that a plane had struck a building in New York. By the time I made it to the meeting, it turned out there was a second plane that had done the same.

Madam President, 9/11 was clearly no accident. It was a terrorist act. As a result of that terrorist act, we made decisions as a nation on a bipartisan basis. One of the most bipartisan decisions we made was what to do with those who were responsible--Osama bin Laden and others. There was no doubt in my mind that we had to answer what they did with force--no doubt whatsoever. I am not inclined to that conclusion on an ordinary basis, but I saw no other alternative but to send the world a message that no one could kill so many innocent Americans and not be held personally responsible.

So there was a vote on the floor--not for the invasion of Iraq but for the invasion of Afghanistan to go after the terrorists, Osama bin Laden and his terrorist group. I voted for it. Every Senator of both political parties voted for it. The same thing was true in the House with only one exception. It was a decision we made to get involved in Afghanistan. As reluctant as I was to see us get into war, I felt we had no choice--no choice whatsoever than to make that clear. So we went in and engaged in that battle for one of the longest wars in our history.

Eventually, under President Obama, we found Osama bin Laden and removed him from this Earth and many of his followers as well. But we paid a price as well.

The men and women of the United States stood behind Congress's decision and enlisted in our services and risked their lives in combat in Afghanistan. It was a terrible assignment. They did it honorably. They did it effectively.

One of the keys to their success in eliminating Osama bin Laden and many of his followers was the support of some Afghan people who risked their own lives to step up and help American soldiers. Day in and day out, these men and women joined our forces, trying to put an end to the terrorism we knew on 9/11.

At the end of the conflict, some of those Afghans who risked their lives to help American soldiers came to the United States, and they were given what is known as temporary protected status, meaning they could stay in this country until the dangers in their home country had abated.

TPS is a temporary designation allowing certain foreign nationals from countries experiencing turmoil to remain here without fear of being deported--back to Afghanistan in this case.

TPS was first designated for Afghans under the Biden administration in 2022 after we withdrew from Afghanistan, marking the end of America's longest war.

For over two decades, tens of thousands of Afghan civilians worked alongside our military and diplomats. Make no mistake, they were risking their lives to help us and faced the possibility of retribution in their own country. I saw firsthand during a visit to Afghanistan some years ago just how these Afghans were making that courageous sacrifice. And the lives of their families, of course, were also in danger because of it.

In return, we promised to the Afghans who risked their lives to help our troops that we would keep them safe from retaliation, and we opened our arms to welcome others, some of them fleeing brutal conditions under the Taliban.

In fact, Afghanistan today also faces the horrors of an administration that has not delivered for their people: record malnutrition, shortages of basic medicine, horrible repression of women and girls, and instability that threatens the entire region.

Listen to this carefully. The State Department--our State Department--has put out a notice that Americans should not travel to Afghanistan because it is too dangerous. So why, why are we facing the situation where this Trump administration is going to eliminate temporary protected status for the Afghans in the United States, including those who risked their lives to help our troops? Why would we send them back to a country so dangerous we warn Americans not to visit? We are also planning on closing, according to President Trump, the very office at the Department of State that protects these vulnerable Afghans here in the United States.

Now, with the lifting of this TPS designation, these Afghans already legally in the United States--including some who risked their lives to help us--may face detention and deportation, returning to horrific conditions in their homeland.

I urge the President in the strongest terms to reconsider this. It is not just the fate of these Afghans, but it is the reputation of the United States. God forbid we are ever in another conflict in some country and turn to the local population to stand by us and risk their lives to help us and when they agree, turn our backs on them again. That is not what a great nation does.

I think most Americans feel particularly that Afghans who risked their lives to help our troops deserve better than to be forced to return to the danger of Afghanistan.

This decision is a sad one for America. I think we are better than this. I am sorry the Afghans who risked their lives to help our troops are now being abandoned by the Trump administration.

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