Cougress of the Yuited States ‘Washington, BE 20515 ‘The Llonorable Kirajen M Nielsen July 31,2018 ‘Secretary of Homeland Security Washington, DC 20528 Dear Secretary Nilsen, Ithas come to our atention that Afghan and lagi atrpreters and translators that served inthe US military are being denied refugee status asa mater of discretion, While the safety of US. citizens is paramount, improperly handling these ‘cass could resrct our ablity to recruit these positions and provide serious national security consequences. For example, “Maharamad Kamran, wi served with the US military in Afghanistan and in support ofthe Global War on Teter for more than 10 ysar, was rently dened both refugee satus and Humanitarian Parole. Based on what is knowa c is -ireumstanes, we are concerned that USCIS isnot appropriately considering his deeadeof service and request w know the reason forthe denial of his retugee application ‘Mr. Kamran worked from 2004 - 2014 forthe US Navy, US Army, DAL under USAID, and later the United Nations. He vas trusted by his supervisors who praised his work ethic and dedication to serving the US mission in Afghanistn. ARter Feceiving mip threat fom the Taliban and surviving an assassination attempt, Mr. Kamran fled to Pakistan. Me. Kamran filed a refugee case which was deied by the USCIS Refugee Affairs Division in February 2016 asa matter of discretion for unstated "Searcy concerns." However, thee is already a clear standard for denying security threats under INA § 212(a}2) & G),and cases of legitimate security concer are required to be denied outright on these grounds Alone The denial shows that USCIS accepts Mr. Kamran's documentation of his work forthe US military and that his tite tnd his ily’ ives are i minent danger as a esult oF his work. That it was denied as a matter of discretion for security rcavonsisconcering. Discretion, which has a very low standard of evidence and is not subject to judicial review, should nt arbitrarily be uied to deny a refugee applicant much les someone with years of faithful sevice With the US niliary. USCIS compounded their denial of his refugee application by denying a request for Humanitarian Pao of not ‘only himself but his wife md daughters, the youngest of whom is only five year, claiming that even she was a scurity fencer, His bother and sster and this families were granted refuge status, are currently living inthe United States, and petitioned 10 care fr his young daughters, Since the denials of thee refugee and Humanitarian Parole applications, Mr Kanan and his family have suffered severely in Pakistan. He isi being atively hunted bythe Taliban, faces regular, violent police raid, and was stabbed tnd nearly died of complications cartier this yea. Mr, Kamran’s case has attracted significant public altntion wth almost 50,000 people signing petition in suppor of re-opening his case. Mr. Kamran life andthe lives of his wife and four daughters areal in jeopardy due to the work that Me. Kamran did foe US forces in Afghanistan. The US military relies on sistance Irom loa tandators and interpreters to cary ut its mission, asistance which wil not be forthcoming in Future conflict should we no follow through on our promises to protec those who we put in harm's way. ‘We respectful request the following actions: (1) Within 15 days, disclose to Congress the discretionary information used to deny Mr, Kaman’ refugee case (2) Within 30 days, provide data om (a) how many principal applicant for refugee cases have been phan snd Iraqi US military interpreters or former interpreters (0) how many of those were denied for discretionary security reasons ahd (€) what percentage of US refugee applications overall have been denied fo discretionary security Thank you for your prompt response to these requests Sincerely, Jett Penham