An executive order signed by President Trump on Monday suspending the admission of refugees to the United States puts thousands of Afghan citizens who helped the US mission there during the war at risk, the president of a California resettlement group said.
The order would affect not only the scores of Afghans now hiding from the Taliban’s repressive rule, but also family members of active-duty U.S. troops, said Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, a coalition of more than 250 organizations that help resettle Afghans who have worked with Americans before. US withdrawals in 2021.
The order represents “another broken promise” by the United States, Mr. VanDiver said by email. “It risks deserting thousands of Afghan wartime allies who have stood by American soldiers during two decades of conflict,” he added.
The order of Mr. Trump, under the title “Alignment of the United States Refugee Admissions Program,” is set to take effect next Monday. He did not specify when the suspension would end, saying it would continue “until further entry of refugees into the United States is consistent with the interests of the United States.”
Refugee programs have historically been a point of pride in the United States, reflecting its ambition to be considered a leader in human rights. The president usually decides each year how many refugees to let into the country.
After the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan when the Taliban seized power, the Biden administration launched Operation Welcome Allies, allowing 76,000 Afghan evacuees to enter the United States on humanitarian grounds, according to Washington. Institute for Migration Policy.
From 2023, more than 90,000 Afghans settled in the United States, according to statistics provided by Mustafa Babak, an advocacy and resettlement expert at the Emerson Collective. But US refugee agencies have been bracing for the admissions program to be gutted since Mr Trump won election in November.
During his first presidential term, Mr. Trump signed an executive order barring people from six majority-Muslim countries from entering the country. He cut the annual cap on refugees in the US; In 2020, the last full year of his term, he was recognized by the United States record low number of refugees, about 11,000. The move left thousands of refugees trapped in camps in Kenya, Tanzania and Jordan.
Joseph R. Biden Jr. he revived the program after he became president in 2021. In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2024, about 100,000 refugees arrived in the United States, the most in nearly three decades, the data show.
After Mr. As Trump announced his 2024 bid, a conservative policy blueprint called Project 2025 suggested he would cite the record number of migrant crossings at the southern border during the Biden administration as justification for halting refugee resettlement.
The suspension of refugee admissions was one of a blizzard of executive orders that Mr. Trump signed hours after his swearing-in on Monday. Other orders cracked down on illegal immigration and ended a US program that allowed migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua to enter the United States for up to two years if they had a financial sponsor and passed security checks.
The refugee order states: “Over the past four years, the United States has been overwhelmed by record levels of migration, including through the US Refugee Readmission Program (USRAP). Cities and towns from Charleroi, Pennsylvania, and Springfield, Ohio to Whitewater, Wisconsin, have seen significant influxes of migrants. Even major urban centers like New York, Chicago and Denver sought federal aid to cope with the burden of newcomers.”
But Mr. VanDiver said research has shown strong support among the American public for continued resettlement and resettlement of Afghan allies.
He noted that people who have been screened under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program enter the country “only after receiving a referral from a government or U.S. non-profit organization and after undergoing extensive background checks, background checks, medical screening and rigorous security check”.
Now, he said, Mr. Trump’s executive action will throw thousands of Afghan refugees into limbo by freezing all cases where they stand and preventing Afghans from boarding flights to the United States. He said something else executive order Mr. Trump — on protecting the country from “foreign terrorists and other threats to national and public security” — had provisions that could further affect Afghan nationals seeking asylum in the United States.
Mr. VanDiver said his coalition, which works to secure special visas for Afghans who have assisted the U.S. mission, sent a letter signed by more than 700 people, including veterans and civilians who worked in Afghanistan, “urging the administration to release the Afghan allies from this break.”
Among those who could be excluded are “family members of active duty service members of DoD and partner forces who have trained, fought and died alongside American troops,” Mr. VanDiver, referring to the Department of Defense.
“Failure to protect our Afghan allies sends a dangerous message to the world: that America’s commitments are conditional and temporary,” he said. “This decision undermines global confidence in our leadership and threatens future alliances.”
