The Trump administration canceled the refugee travel plans who had been approved to travel to the United States before the deadline of January 27 that suspended the United States refugee resettlement program.
Thousands of refugees are now stranded in various parts of the world.
The suspension appeared in an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Monday. He left open the possibility that the people who had gone through the long process to be approved as refugees and allowed to come to the US, and who had reserved flights before that deadline, could still go unnoticed.
But in an email reviewed Wednesday by The Associated Press, the US agency that supervises the processing and arrival of refugees told the personnel and interested parties that “the arrival of refugees in the United States has been suspended until new notice.”
Among those affected are the more than 1,600 Afghans authorized to reap as well as relatives of American military personnel in active duty.
The Afghan who fled after the Taliban took power to Trump on Wednesday to exempt them from the order, and some said they risk their lives to support US troops.
It is estimated that some 15,000 Afghas are waiting in Pakistan for approval for resettlement in the United States through an American government program. It was created to help Afghans at risk under the Taliban regime due to their work with the US government, the media, aid agencies and human rights groups, after US troops retired from Afghanistan in 2021 , when the Taliban took power.
There were no immediate comments from Pakistan, where the authorities have urged the world community to decide the fate of the 1.45 million Afghan refugees, saying that they cannot remain indefinitely.
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“Many of us risk our lives to support the mission of the United States as interpreters, contractors, defenders of human rights and allies,” said a defense group called Afghan Usrap Refugees (which bears the name of the United States refugee program) in an open letter to Trump, Congress members and human rights defenders.
“The Taliban consider us traitors and returning to Afghanistan would expose us to arrest, torture or death,” said the group. “In Pakistan, the situation is increasingly unsustainable. Arbitrary arrests, deportations and insecurity aggravate our anguish. ”
Trump’s order had given the agency until January 27 before starting to stop all processing and trips for at least three months. Now, however, it seems that the moment of the order was advanced. It was not clear immediately what the change caused.
Refugees are different from people who arrive directly to the border between the United States and Mexico with the objective of eventually seeking asylum in the United States. Refugees must live outside the United States to be considered for resettlement and, usually, the United Nations refer them to the State Department.
They undergo an exhaustive evaluation before coming to the US. Once in the US, a resettlement agency is generally assigned that helps them adapt to life in the United States. That includes help to find work and enroll their children at school.
Some Afghan are traumatized by suspension
An Afghan woman, Farzana Umeed, and a man, Sarfraz Ahmed, said in an interview on the outskirts of Islamabad that they are traumatized by the suspension of the program.
“I practically cried last night when we listened to this news,” said Umeed. He said it is difficult for him to live in Pakistan and that he cannot travel to the United States either. “Returning to my country of origin also means running a huge risk. What do I have to do? “He asked, and urged Trump to reverse his decision.
Among the exiles in Pakistan are Afghan journalists who were forced to flee from the Taliban to save their lives and now face “extreme anxiety under the recurring threat of arbitrary arrests, police harassment and deportation to Afghanistan,” said reporters without borders on Wednesday.
The media control agency urged Pakistan to guarantee the protection of journalists, who say that their visa extends only for a month for a rate of $ 100.
According to the Usrap Afghan Refugee Group, the United States flights of many Afghan were scheduled for January, February and March after they were interviewed by the International Organization for Migration and officials of the United States Embassy.
“We seek the revocation of the ban on the refugee program for humanitarian reasons,” said Ahmad Shah, a member of the group, who hoped to leave Pakistan to the United States in March after undergoing all medical interviews and tests.
In addition to Pakistan, more than 3,200 Afghan are found in Albania. Albania, NATO member, agreed first to house Afghans fled for a year before they moved to the United States to finally establish themselves, and then promised to retain them for longer if their visas were delayed.
–With Munir Ahmed Archives of The Associated Press
& Copy 2025 The Canadian press
