An executive order signed by President Trump on Monday suspending the admission of refugees to the United States puts thousands of Afghan nationals who have helped the American mission there during the war at risk, the president of a California-based resettlement group said.
Sean Van Diver, president of the AfghanEvac coalition of more than 250 organizations, said the order would affect not only the large number of Afghan citizens hiding from the Taliban's repressive rule, but also the family members of US soldiers. Afghans working with Americans before the US pulls out in 2021.
Mr. VanDiver said in an email that the order amounted to “another broken promise” by the United States. “It risks abandoning the thousands of Afghan wartime allies who have stood alongside U.S. troops during two decades of conflict,” he said.
“Mr. Trump's executive orderRestructuring the United States Refugee Admissions Program,” will take effect next Monday. He did not specify when the suspension would end, saying it would last “until further admission of refugees to the United States is in the best interest of the United States.”
Refugee programs have historically been a point of pride in the United States, reflecting its ambition to be seen as a leader in human rights. The president usually decides each year how many refugees will be allowed into the country.
After the US military's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan as the Taliban took over, the Biden administration launched Operation Allies Welcome, allowing 76,000 Afghan evacuees to enter the US on humanitarian grounds. Migration Policy Institute.
More than in 2023 90,000 Afghans According to statistics cited by Mustafa Babak, Emerson Collective's lawyer and migration expert, he was settled in the United States. But US refugee agencies had been preparing to scrap the admissions program after Mr Trump won the November election.
During his first term as president, Mr. Trump signed an executive order banning the entry of people from six Muslim-majority countries. He cut the annual US refugee limit; In 2020, the last full year of his term, the US conceded record low number of refugees, about 11,000. The move has left thousands of refugees stranded in camps in Kenya, Tanzania and Jordan.
Joseph R. Biden Jr. revived the program when he became president in 2021. Nearly 100,000 refugees arrived in the U.S. in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2024, the highest number in nearly three decades, records show.
After Mr. Trump announced his candidacy for the 2024 election, a conservative policy plan called Project 2025 proposed citing the record number of migrant crossings at the southern border during the Biden administration as a basis for ending refugee resettlement.
The freeze on refugee admissions was among the executive orders Mr. Trump signed within hours of being sworn in on Monday. Other orders cracked down on illegal immigration and suspended a U.S. program that allowed migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua to enter the U.S. for up to two years if they had a financial sponsor and passed security checks.
The refugee executive order states: “Over the past four years, the United States has been inundated with record levels of migration through the United States Refugee Readmissions Program (USRAP). Cities and towns such as Charleroi, Pennsylvania and Springfield, Ohio, Whitewater, Wisconsin saw a significant influx of migrants. Even major urban centers like New York, Chicago, and Denver sought federal help to manage the influx of newcomers.
But Mr. VanDiver said surveys showed strong support For the continuation of the relocation and deployment of Afghan allies among the American public.
He noted that people screened under the US Refugee Admissions Program entered the country “only after receiving a referral from a government or US-run non-profit organization and undergoing an extensive background check, background check, medical examination and rigorous security screening”.
Now, he said, Mr. Trump's executive action would leave thousands of Afghan refugees in limbo by freezing all of their holdings and preventing Afghans from boarding planes to the United States. He said something else executive order by Mr. Trump — about protecting the country “from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats” — There were provisions that could further affect Afghan nationals seeking asylum in the United States.
Mr. VanDiver said his coalition, which secures special visas for Afghans helping the US mission, has sent a letter signed by more than 700 people, including veterans and civilians who have served in Afghanistan, “calling on the administration to release our Afghan allies. this break.”
Among those who could be shut down are “family members and partner forces of active-duty military personnel who trained, fought and died alongside U.S. troops,” Mr. VanDiver said, citing the Defense Department.
“Failure to protect our Afghan allies sends a dangerous message to the world: US commitments are conditional and temporary,” he said. “This decision undermines global confidence in our leadership and jeopardizes future alliances.”