Protect the Afghans Who Served Us

Floor Speech

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Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose the Department of Homeland Security's termination of temporary protected status for Afghans. TPS has provided a lifeline to Afghans who supported U.S. national security efforts and risked their lives to support our missions.

We offered them protection here because when allies stand with us, we have a responsibility to stand with them. This principle is a national security imperative. It helps build trust and helps build more allies. That trust gets undermined when we turn our back on those who protected us.

Now, with the termination of TPS, we are sending our Army's allies back to the Taliban. These individuals and families were given just weeks to make an impossible choice: face deportation to return to Afghanistan under Taliban control where they will likely be suffering or even die.

Many of these families live in our community here in Virginia.

Take the story of a former captain in the Afghan National Army. He worked with the U.S. military, and his brother was shot by the Taliban. His entire family now fears for their lives. Abandoning Afghans now not only turns our back on those who risked their lives to protect us but puts our current and future global partnerships on the line.

We have an incredible Afghan-American community in Virginia, and we have to stand up for them and stand up for the Afghans who have come here and who served us there.

I urge the administration to reverse course. Celebrating Rajdhani Mandir

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Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, from celebrating holidays to hosting community events, the Rajdhani Mandir temple is a cornerstone of the Hindu community in our region.

This year, we will mark an important milestone of the temple's 25- year anniversary, years of bringing people together at events, festivals like Holi, Diwali, and Navratri, and for children's programming, too, including regular Sunday classes.

The temple also puts out programs for seniors and does incredible philanthropic work to provide food and resources to our community.

I am honored to celebrate this milestone with the temple this weekend. I congratulate the Rajdhani Mandir temple on a successful 25 years, and I am looking forward to the next 25 years of work. Congratulating Stone Hill Middle School Students

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Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate the students of Stone Hill Middle School, in Ashburn, Virginia: Avee, Neil, Vibhav, and Aarav; and their teacher, Pardeep, for placing third in the National Space Sustainability Competition.

This competition allows students to address the need for sustainable practices in space by developing an engineering solution, creating a business plan, and submitting a video pitch for consideration.

Their project, the Orbital Ecosystem Engineers, was pitched as an aerospace technology company to manage and remove space debris, which is a big problem right now. The technology used includes satellites, drones, and AI to find the best route to locate debris and the focus of the power of the Sun's rays to destroy the debris.

I am eager to see what our students continue to do with their company in the future, and I wish them the best of luck in tackling sustainability in space.

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