Last month No One Left Behind hosted General David Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker on Capitol Hill to show support for the Special Immigrant Visa program.
Click here to watch a video from the event!
No One Left Behind (NOLB) remains the only organization focused solely on keeping our nation's promise to our brave allies. The recent decrease in the overall refugee cap has slowed immigration - including SIV arrivals - forcing many resettlement agencies to close local operations. To adjust to this new environment, NOLB made the necessary decision to scale back our operations and focus on our strengths.
Our resettlement operations have experienced limited success over the previous years. We are proud to have assisted over 8,000 SIVs and their family members with everything from emergency rent to obtaining driver's licenses over the past 5 years. That 8,000 is a fraction of the 80,000 SIVs and family members currently resettled in the United States.
Due to our focus on serving exclusively the SIV community, our mission is too narrow to receive formal support from the Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department, and the Department of Defense. We have been unsuccessful at creating sustainable agreements with other resettlement agencies or similar charities who support the resettlement of SIVs. Our current level of funding does not allow us to continue our mission as a national resettlement organization.
We have not made these decisions lightly. Many nonprofits face these growing pains, and many do not survive them. We are making the difficult decision now to right-size our operation so that we can continue forward with a mission of servicing as a source of information for SIV applicants and servicemembers. We will continue to educate policymakers and the public about the importance of the SIV programs. By focusing our efforts going forward on what we can execute effectively, we remain committed to the cause and look forward to advocating for the SIV community for years to come.
We are continuing to assist with some aspects of resettlement and emergencies, as funds are available, and we expect to have an exciting new partnership announcement in the coming months that will directly provide assistance to newly arrived SIVs.
While we will continue to work with the administration to address the slowdown in arrivals, we are experiencing success in other areas. The administration has requested a $52M increase to the Afghan SIV program in the President's FY20 Budget. The Afghan SIV program has the most bi-partisan support it has ever had on Capitol Hill in the last 10 years (38 co-sponsors). The administration just carved out 4,000 visas for Iraqi translators and recently stated that SIVs are exempt from the ban on immigrants who can't show proof of health insurance. 4,000 Afghan visas were returned to the FY20 NDAA. Finally, Sen. Warner has introduced a bill creating an SIV program for affected populations in Syria, including any Kurdish interpreters that work with our troops.
These small victories show that the SIV program is critical to our national security. Please visit https://nooneleft.org/advocacy to learn about all the endorsements we have attracted for the SIV program.
Please consider making a year end donation to NOLB to help us ensure our allies are treated like heroes and receive the honor and the support they deserve.
