Advocates and families react as Trump rolls back resettlement of Afghan refugees | Refugee News

Afghans who fled their home country after the Taliban returned to power in 2021 are pleading for the United States to reconsider a decision rolling back all existing refugee resettlement efforts.

On Wednesday, reactions continued to pour in against an executive order that Trump signed two days earlier, on his first day in office.

The order called for the suspension of the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), which processes refugees for resettlement in the country, starting January 27. All applications and arrivals through the program have also been suspended.

But the sudden halt to USRAP has left many Afghan refugees already allowed into the United States in limbo, facing instability and the threat of violence.

Mahnoosh Monir, a former medical student and teacher at a language center in Afghanistan, fled to Pakistan after the Taliban closed the school where she worked.

Since coming to power, the Taliban have severely restricted women's rights, even barring them from speaking in public.

Monir expressed surprise at Trump's actions in an article published Wednesday in the Associated Press. She told the news agency that women would struggle to survive under Taliban rule.

I didn't expect this suspension, Monir said. A long wait makes us think of very disappointing probabilities, like being sent back to Afghanistan or waiting for a long time in Pakistan as an at-risk refugee, which are like nightmares for all case holders.

The United States owes a great debt to the Afghans

Others questioned whether the United States was abdicating its responsibilities to the Afghans who supported its military presence in the country for two decades.

Thousands of Afghans worked with the U.S. armed forces and the U.S.-backed government during the country's 20-year war. After the collapse of the US-backed government in August 2021, many feared reprisals from the Taliban and hoped to seek refuge in the United States.

President Trump's decision to cancel flights for Afghans and other refugees allowed to come to the United States is cruel, ugly and racist, said Arash Azizzada, co-founder of the U.S. advocacy organization Afghans For a Better Tomorrow. Al Jazeera via SMS.

The move will ensure that Afghans seeking safety risk being targeted, imprisoned, tortured or worse under brutal Taliban rule. The United States owes a great debt to the Afghans, and we will ensure that America pays that debt long after this administration ends.

Another advocacy group, Afghan USRAP Refugees, released an open letter to Trump and members of the US Congress, calling for action.

Many of us have risked our lives to support the American mission as interpreters, entrepreneurs, human rights advocates and allies, the letter said.

Even across the border in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, he warned that refugees faced dangerous conditions.

In Pakistan, the situation is increasingly untenable. Arbitrary arrests, deportations and insecurity aggravate our distress.

Great demand

An estimated 15,000 Afghans are currently awaiting resettlement approval in neighboring Pakistan. Some have waited years and spent countless hours navigating the complex bureaucracy of the U.S. immigration system.

Others traveled to South America to make the perilous journey north to the US-Mexico border so they could seek asylum.

The United Nations has called the situation in Afghanistan one of the world's most urgent crises. It predicts that more than half a million Afghans will need to be resettled in 2025.

According to a U.S. State Department report, more than 160,000 Afghans have arrived in the country since August 2021. Still, advocates have criticized former President Joe Biden's administration for slow decisions on entry.

Trump, who replaced Biden on Monday, had campaigned on a platform to severely restrict immigration to the United States. During his first term, from 2017 to 2021, the Republican leader also implemented an entry ban on citizens of several Muslim-majority countries, leading critics to characterize the policy as a ban on Muslims.

In Monday's executive order, Trump defended his actions as necessary, describing the United States as overwhelmed by the number of arrivals.

The United States does not have the capacity to absorb large numbers of migrants, and particularly refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources to Americans, the executive order states.

It is unclear when or if USRAP will resume. Trump has requested a report on the program after 90 days and at the end of each 90-day period thereafter until he determines that resuming USRAP is in the best interests of the United States. United.

The announcement sparked concern among Americans, including military personnel whose family members are still in Afghanistan or in refugee camps.

I think about this all day, about an Afghan American soldier from the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division, who spoke to the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity.

His sister remains in Kabul, the Afghan capital. I can't even do my job properly because it impacts me mentally.

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