Visa and Refugee Processing for Iranians Following Nationwide Protests
One of the National Iranian American Council’s primary recommendations to the Biden administration following the outbreak of nationwide protests in Iran in September 2022 was to increase visa and refugee processing for Iranians who need to get to safety. Several months after the outbreak of protests and our recommendation, visa and refugee data indicates that the Biden administration has made some improvements in processing Iranians. However, the scale of improvement – with visa processing still lagging.
Can Congress Condemn Iran’s Brutal Crackdown?
It is the final legislative week of the year and Congress has yet to formally take action to condemn Iran’s brutal crackdown on protesters, which has now entered its fourth month.
Iranian Americans Stand Against Reckless Immigration Policy, the EAGLE Act
The EAGLE Act would remove “country caps” which act as safeguards to prevent nationals from any one country from monopolizing the green card process. NIAC Action firmly opposes the passage of this legislation, which would reduce the diversity of the green card process, pit groups of immigrants against each other and ultimately fail to fix the green card backlog.
بیانیه نایاک به مناسبت دومین سالگرد بازداشت خانواده‌های ایرانی-آمریکایی
Click here to read this in English. شورای ملی ایرانیان آمریکا (نایاک) و سازمان آمریکای واحد، در انتقاد به تاخیر در اجرای عدالت در رابطه با تضییع حقوق صدها نفر که توسط اداره گمرک و حفاظت مرزی ایالات متحده آمریکا، با اعمال فرامین تبعیض‌آمیز صورت گرفت، بیانیه‌ای به شرح ذیل صادر نمود نیلوفر گنجه‌ای؛ معاون […]
استقبال نایاک از تصویب اصلاحات مهاجرتی در مجلس نمایندگان
Click here to read this in English. رایان کاستلو، مدیر سیاست‌گذاری شورای ملی ایرانیان آمریکا (نایاک)، در بیانیه‌ای از تصویب «طرح بازسازی بهتر» در مجلس نمایندگان استقبال کرد. این قانون شامل یک سری اصلاحات مهاجرتی از جمله لغو تحریم‌های تبعیض‌آمیز ترامپ علیه برندگان ویزای مهاجرتی گوناگونی (گرین‌کارت لاتاری) است مجلس نمایندگان لایحه‌ای را تصویب کرد که […]
NIAC Action Applauds Diversity Visa Fix
The House Appropriations committee should be applauded for taking a key step to right a wrong today. Under the Trump administration, thousands of individuals were selected for diversity visas only to be denied on the basis of their national origin due to the Muslim ban and other discriminatory orders. Many sold their most valuable possessions and traveled through war zones just to have the chance to procure their promised visa, only to be cruelly and arbitrarily denied. Hope turned to despair and disillusionment.
Learning from the Past – The Failures of Militant Counterrevolution in Iran and Cuba
“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” – Foundation, Isaac Asimov
Although I am not a part of the Iranian diaspora, I have seen many similarities between its history and that of a diaspora I am part of – Cuban exiles. My grandmother, aunt, and mother were born in Cuba and fled its communist government for a better life in America. Like many other Cuban exiles they hate Fidel Castro, and want few things more than to bring his regime down. How precisely to do this, however, is a point of contention – my mother favors diplomatic relations with Cuba and expanding socioeconomic exchanges to foster demand for reform. On the other hand, my grandmother and aunt oppose engagement with the regime on the grounds that dialogue would legitimize it.
Tell President Obama to Fix the Single-Entry Visa Policy for Iranian Students in the US
So many Iranian Americans began their journey in the U.S. as students, but now that path is becoming increasingly closed. Not only is it more difficult for Iranians to obtain visas to study in the U.S., but Iranian students are only eligible for single-entry visas. This means that Iranians studying in the U.S. cannot visit […]
Iranian 9/11 Hero: STEP Act a Mistake
New York – When Shahram Hashemi saw an airplane fly into the second World Trade Center building and smoke spewing from the first tower, he knew it wasn’t an accident. So Shahram, a young Iranian university student who had only been in the U.S. for three years, made a remarkable decision. As others fled the […]
Tell Congress to Stop the STEP Act
Last week, NIAC united the Iranian-American community against Congressman Gresham Barrett’s (R-SC) plan to reintroduce the Stop Terrorist Entry Program (STEP) Act, a bill he originally introduced in 2003 that sought to deport all non-immigrant Iranians in the US and ban Iranians from entering the US. Iranian Americans immediately sprung into action, sending nearly 5,000 […]
Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World”
News traveled fast about Rep. Gresham Barrett’s plan to label every Iranian a terrorist and bar them from the US, even making it onto last night’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Fh4yaugNo] While we would never go so far as to label Rep. Barrett the “worst person in the world,” we think it’s safe to assume […]
Breaking News: Language to Deport Iranians Dropped from STEP Act
Major Victory for Iranian-American Community Washington DC – Congressman Gresham Barrett’s (R-SC) office has confirmed to NIAC that he will drop language aimed at deporting non-immigrant Iranians from the U.S. when he reintroduces the Stop Terrorists Entry Program (STEP) Act today. This is a major victory for the Iranian-American community. When the STEP Act was […]