WASHINGTON - A group of Democratic senators on Thursday called on the Biden administration to account for what they said was "disparate" treatment of Afghans who have sought to flee their country since the U.S. withdrawal compared with Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.
President Joe Biden's recent creation of a program to ease a pathway to the United States for Ukrainian war refugees cast the administration's more restrictive policy toward Afghans and others into "stark" relief, Democratic Sens. Edward J. Markey (Mass.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) wrote in an open letter to Biden and the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday.