Immigration · Report · File No. 261109-129
Two House Democrats file petition to force vote on deportation protection for Afghans
Reps. Jason Crow and Sam Liccardo will try to bypass GOP leaders and force a House vote on Temporary Protected Status for Afghans. It is an early test of how Democrats will push back on Trump's deportation policy.
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Two House Democrats will try to go around Republican leaders and force a vote to restore Temporary Protected Status for Afghans in the United States. Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado and Rep. Sam Liccardo of California plan to file the petition when Congress returns Monday night 1.
Temporary Protected Status, known as TPS, was created by Congress in 1990. It lets migrants live and work in the U.S. for up to 18 months if their home countries are designated unsafe, and the time can be extended 1.
How the petition works
The tool is called a discharge petition. If 218 House members sign it, leaders must bring the bill to the floor for a vote, even if they oppose it 1.
Crow and Liccardo would need every current House Democrat plus a handful of Republicans to reach 218 1. They filed a special rule on Oct. 1 so they could start collecting signatures as soon as the petition is submitted 1.
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The bill is the Afghanistan TPS Act. It would grant protection until July 2029 and needs a majority vote on the House floor to pass 1. A separate report says it would cover more than 8,000 Afghans whose protections ended in 2025 2.
What the administration did
The Trump administration ended Afghanistan's TPS in May 2025. President Joe Biden's administration had granted it in 2022 1. Then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at the time that the move was "returning TPS to its original temporary intent" 1.
The administration also recently planned to deport dozens of Afghan immigrants and asylum-seekers to Pakistan. A federal judge temporarily blocked that move last week 1.
Our Afghan partners put their lives on the line to help protect American servicemembers like me,
Liccardo said the effort should not wait for January, when Democrats take over the House 1.
This cannot wait until the Democratic majority takes over.
Republican support and the odds
The bill has four Republican co-sponsors: Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Morgan Luttrell of Texas. Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican-turned-independent from California, also backs it 1. More than 50 groups support it, including Veterans of Foreign Wars and Amnesty International USA 1.
Discharge petitions have worked several times in this Congress. In April, the House voted 224-204 to reinstate TPS for Haitians, with 10 Republicans joining all Democrats. Senate Republicans then blocked the bill from reaching Trump's desk 1.
A Senate companion, S. 5308, was introduced Aug. 6 by Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, with Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and others. It was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee 2. In June, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the administration could carry out TPS terminations for Haiti and Syria 2.
That matters because the Afghan bill faces the same two hurdles the Haiti bill did. It needs enough Republican signatures in the House, and then it needs Senate Republicans to let it move. The House is in session this week and next before a Thanksgiving recess 1.
The Record
- Afghans under TPS received notice that their status would end in 60 days 2.
- House passed a Haiti TPS bill 224-204 after a discharge petition; Senate Republicans blocked it 1.
- Crow and Liccardo introduced a special rule allowing signature collection to begin once the petition is filed 1.
- Crow and Liccardo plan to file the discharge petition as Congress returns 1.
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Sources
- NBC News, “Democratic lawmakers seek to restore deportation protections to Afghans in the U.S.” (2026-11-09). nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/democrats-afghans-temporary
- VisaVerge, “Sam Liccardo files discharge petition for Afghanistan TPS Act of 2026” (2026-10-20). visaverge.com/legal/sam-liccardo-files-discharge-petition-fo
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