“Nearly 1,660 Afghans who received permission from the US government to resettle in the States, including family members of active US military personnel, had their flights canceled in accordance with President Donald Trump’s order to suspend US refugee programs, the media reported.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Source:The Guardian, Reuters with references to an American official and a leading advocate of refugee resettlement
Details: This group includes unaccompanied minors awaiting reunification with their families in the U.S., according to Sean Van Diver, chairman of the #AfghanEvac coalition of American veterans and advocacy groups, and a U.S. government official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Afghans at risk of Taliban retaliation for fighting on the side of the former US-backed Afghan government.
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Currently, Afghans who have been granted refugee status in the United States are being removed from the lists of flights they were supposed to take out of Kabul in the period up to April.
The U.S. decision also leaves in limbo thousands of other Afghans who have been cleared to resettle as refugees in the U.S. but have not yet been assigned flights from Afghanistan or neighboring Pakistan.
The publication reminds that Trump made the strengthening of immigration control one of the main promises of his 2024 election campaign, leaving the fate of American programs for refugees in limbo.
Van Diver’s direct speech: “The Afghans and their protectors are in a panic. I’ve had to charge my phone four times already today because so many people are calling me. We warned them (Trump’s transition team – ed.) that this could happen, but they did it anyway. We hope they will change their minds.”
For reference: Van Diver’s organization is the main coalition working with the US government to evacuate and resettle Afghans in the US since the Taliban took over Kabul, when the last US troops left Afghanistan in August 2021 after two decades of war.
Nearly 200,000 Afghans were brought to the United States by former President Joe Biden’s administration after the chaotic withdrawal of American troops from Kabul.
One of dozens of executive orders Trump is expected to sign would suspend US refugee programs for at least four months.
The new White House website says Trump is “suspending refugee resettlement after communities were forced to host large and unsustainable groups of migrants, undermining community safety and resources.”
The Democratic minority on the House Foreign Affairs Committee criticized the move, saying in a post on X that “this is what rejection looks like. Leaving proven Afghan allies at the mercy of the Taliban is shameful.”