Latest news with #AfghanEvac
Los Angeles Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Afghans in California reeling amid Trump administration travel ban, end of deportation protections
Afghans who relocated to California have been reeling over the past few months and weeks as the Trump administration has moved to end deportation protections amid increasing efforts to further restrict Afghan nationals from coming to the U.S. This week, despite efforts by an organization suing to maintain the protections, the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status for Afghans, which the U.S. granted in May 2022 after it withdrew military forces from Afghanistan. The status allowed Afghans to come to the U.S. and obtain work authorization, but it did not provide a pathway to citizenship. 'People are desperate,' said Shawn VanDiver, the founder and president of AfghanEvac, a nonprofit that supports the safe relocation of Afghan allies. 'They've followed all the rules. They've done everything the U.S. asked them to do, and at every corner, the Trump administration has been blocking them.' The Trump administration in January suspended Afghan refugee programs and canceled scheduled flights for Afghans cleared by the government. In May, the State Department sent layoff notices to staff at the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, known as CARE, the agency tasked with working to ensure Afghans got settled into the U.S. with government support. And in June, Trump instituted a travel ban, suspending travel for Afghan nationals to the U.S. and leaving families who had been hoping to reunify stuck in limbo. Afghans have increasingly gotten caught up in the Trump administration's efforts to ramp up deportations. In San Diego, an Afghan national who worked as a translator for the U.S. military and had been granted humanitarian parole was detained after attending an asylum hearing at immigration court. The Department of Homeland Security announced in May that it would terminate Temporary Protected Status for Afghans. Secretary Kristi Noem said conditions in Afghanistan 'do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation.' In a press release, the department said: 'The Secretary determined that, overall, there are notable improvements in the security and economic situation such that requiring the return of Afghan nationals to Afghanistan does not pose a threat to their personal safety due to ongoing-armed conflict or extraordinary and temporary conditions.' Many organizations that help relocate Afghans criticized the move, saying conditions in Afghanistan, now under the Taliban, are not safe for those who fled, especially for those who assisted the U.S. military during the war. Casa, a national advocacy organization, filed a lawsuit against DHS, challenging the end of TPS for Afghans, as well as for Cameroonians, as unlawful. On Monday, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion by Casa to postpone the agency's actions. The case remains ongoing in U.S. District Court in Maryland. In a statement, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said individuals who arrived on TPS can still apply for asylum and other protections. She said the end of TPS 'furthers the national interest and the statutory provision that TPS is in fact designed to be temporary.' TPS has been a crucial stopgap for Afghans who made it to the U.S. but whose applications for asylum, or for the Special Immigrant Visas granted to Afghans who have worked with the U.S. government, are still pending, caught in major backlogs. Halema Wali, a co-director at Afghans for a Better Tomorrow, a nonprofit that advocates for Afghan refugees in the New York City metropolitan area and has supported families entering the U.S. from Tijuana, said that nearly all of the organization's 800 members are on TPS. 'They are petrified,' Wali said. 'They are not sure how to approach this, and quite honestly, we are scrambling to figure out how we make them safe when the only thing protecting them from deportation is gone.' Global Refuge, an organization that has resettled thousands of Afghans, said that as many as 11,700 Afghans in the U.S. are now vulnerable to deportation, and those who do not have other means to gain legal status or pending applications could lose work authorization. 'Ending TPS does not align with the reality of circumstances on the ground in Afghanistan,' Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, chief executive of Global Refuge, said in a statement. 'Conditions remain dire, especially for allies who supported the U.S. mission, as well as women, girls, religious minorities, and ethnic groups targeted by the Taliban. The anxiety among our Afghan clients is real and growing.' Vignarajah called on Congress to establish a pathway to citizenship for Afghans. California has become home to many Afghan refugees — as many as 58,600 call the state home, more than any other state, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The Greater Sacramento area hosts some 20,000 Afghan refugees, one of the largest communities in the U.S. The city of Fremont, which has a neighborhood known as 'Little Kabul' for its array of Afghan shops and restaurants, raised nearly half a million dollars for its Afghan Refugee Help Fund, launched in 2021, to help newly arrived Afghans. Harris Mojadedi, an Afghan American advocate in the Fremont area, said there is deep uncertainty amid shifting immigration policies. Afghans in the community have started receiving self-deportation notices from DHS, and many are struggling to figure out what comes next. He knows of one Afghan couple, where one spouse has TPS and the other is a U.S. citizen, who are living each day as if it is their last together. Many Afghans are scared to speak out, he said, for fear of government retribution. People have become afraid of dropping their children off at school or calling the police if they are victims of crime, he said. 'Just like we're seeing with other communities, there's a lot of fear in the [Afghan] community,' Mojadedi said, referencing the immigration raids that have largely affected the Latino community. Shala Gafary, an attorney who leads a team focused on legal assistance for Afghans at asylum advocacy nonprofit Human Rights First, said they are still seeing the aftermath of the U.S.' chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, where thousands of Afghans were separated. She has helped families file applications to be relocated to the U.S. and reunite with their families under a program facilitated by the Biden administration. But as soon as Trump entered office, he issued an order suspending U.S. refugee programs and canceled flights scheduled to bring some 1,660 Afghans cleared by the U.S. government to resettle in the U.S., including family members of active-duty U.S. military personnel. Gafary and other immigration attorneys are fielding calls every day from families asking what they can do. And she doesn't have an answer for them. She has had to instruct other attorneys — who ask what they should say to their clients — that all they can do is tell Afghan families the truth, that there are no options available. 'Since January, it's been nothing but bad news for the Afghan population,' Gafary said. Back in Afghanistan, thousands living under Taliban rule worry for their futures. Their options for making a life elsewhere have shrunk exponentially, as neighboring nations Pakistan and Iran have begun deporting Afghan refugees en masse, and Trump placed Afghanistan on the U.S. travel ban list earlier this year. For Afghan Americans in California who had eagerly anticipated the arrival of relatives who sought asylum in the U.S., Trump's immigration crackdown has been crushing. One Southern California resident, a 26-year-old Afghan American woman, told The Times that seven of her family members, including her grandmother and several cousins, are now in limbo after having their visas approved but no confirmation that the U.S. will allow them in. They were scheduled to arrive in March from Afghanistan but were not allowed in. The woman, who requested anonymity because she fears repercussions from the Trump administration for her family members still hoping to seek asylum in the U.S., said her family still hopes policy will shift and they will be let in because they have no other option. She said young girls in her family haven't been able to go to school, and another cousin who had been working for an international aid organization is not allowed to work anymore. 'Everyone is holding their breath to see what happens next,' she said. 'The best thing we can do is just hope for the best, do what we can and check in on each other and keep our heads held up high.'
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration can lift deportation protections for Afghanistan and Cameroon
An appellate court has allowed the Trump administration to end a program that grants temporary deportation protections and work permits to more than 10,000 people from Afghanistan and Cameroon. In a brief order Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit wrote that the plaintiff — an immigration advocacy group called CASA — has a plausible case against the administration for choosing to end temporary protected status, or TPS, for Afghans and Cameroonians. But the court said "there is insufficient evidence to warrant the extraordinary remedy" of blocking the government from phasing out TPS while the lawsuit works its way through the courts. One week ago, the appeals court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ending TPS for Afghanistan for one week, while it considered the merits of CASA's case. The administration had planned to end the program for Afghans last week. The program is set to end for Cameroonians in two weeks, on Aug. 4. The appellate court on Monday directed a lower court to "move expeditiously" to hear the case. Around 11,700 Afghans and 5,200 Cameroonians are enrolled in TPS, the government estimates. But roughly 3,600 of the Afghans and 200 of the Cameroonians have green cards, so they will not be affected. Those who lose their TPS protections can apply for asylum or some other form of legal status, but otherwise, they will be at risk of deportation. AfghanEvac, a group that has helped relocate Afghans, said in a statement it is "deeply alarmed" by Monday's ruling. "Lives will be upended. Families will be separated. Allies will be detained, deported, or forced into hiding—while their legal rights remain unsettled," AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver said in a statement Monday night. CBS News has reached out to the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and CASA for comment. The Trump administration has sought for months to roll back TPS, a program that allows the government to grant relief from deportation and work permits for people whose home countries are deemed unsafe due to natural disasters or war. The government argues that the TPS program is intended to be temporary, and Cameroon and Afghanistan are now safe enough for TPS recipients to return. Earlier this year, the Trump administration said Afghanistan's security situation and economy have improved despite the Taliban's 2021 takeover of the country following the U.S. military's withdrawal. And the government said a pair of armed conflicts in Cameroon — including a separatist conflict and an insurgency by the extremist group Boko Haram, which the U.S. designated a foreign terrorist organization in 2013 — are "contained in limited regions" and don't imperil people's personal safety in most of the country. "This administration is returning TPS to its original temporary intent," Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a May statement announcing the Afghanistan decision. The State Department has placed a "Do Not Travel" advisory on Afghanistan, warning of the risk of "civil unrest, crime, terrorism, risk of wrongful detention, kidnapping, and limited health facilities." The department advises travelers to Cameroon to exercise caution, and not to travel to certain parts of the country due to armed violence, crime and terrorism. CASA has argued in court papers that both countries are unsafe, and TPS recipients could be endangered if they're forced to return to their home countries. The group says the conflict in Cameroon — which involves English-speaking separatists in a mostly French-speaking country — has created a humanitarian crisis and wrecked the African country's economy. And people from Afghanistan, the group notes, were made eligible for TPS because of repression by the Taliban and conflict between the group and ISIS-K insurgents. CASA also argues the administration hasn't followed the correct legal processes to end TPS, and contends the decision was "preordained" and based partly on "racial animus." "That animus is evidenced by the Trump Administration's efforts to eliminate lawful immigration status for noncitizens from countries the Administration believes are predominantly non-white, while simultaneously removing immigration barriers to noncitizens from countries the Administration believes are predominately white," the group said. Earlier this month, a lower court judge denied DHS's request to dismiss CASA's lawsuit, but also denied CASA's motion to halt the administration's policy. CASA appealed, causing it to reach the 4th Circuit. The Trump administration has sought to wind down TPS for hundreds of thousands of other migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti. In May, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to end TPS for Venezuelan migrants. What shocked "Matlock" star Kathy Bates? A new you: The science of redesigning your personality "Somebody Somewhere" star Bridget Everett
CBS News
22-07-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Trump administration can lift deportation protections for thousands from Afghanistan and Cameroon, court says
An appellate court has allowed the Trump administration to end a program that grants temporary deportation protections and work permits to more than 10,000 people from Afghanistan and Cameroon. In a brief order Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit wrote that the plaintiff — an immigration advocacy group called CASA — has a plausible case against the administration for choosing to end temporary protected status, or TPS, for Afghans and Cameroonians. But the court said "there is insufficient evidence to warrant the extraordinary remedy" of blocking the government from phasing out TPS while the lawsuit works its way through the courts. One week ago, the appeals court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ending TPS for Afghanistan for one week, while it considered the merits of CASA's case. The administration had planned to end the program for Afghans last week. The program is set to end for Cameroonians in two weeks, on Aug. 4. The appellate court on Monday directed a lower court to "move expeditiously" to hear the case. Around 11,700 Afghans and 5,200 Cameroonians are enrolled in TPS, the government estimates. But roughly 3,600 of the Afghans and 200 of the Cameroonians have green cards, so they will not be affected. Those who lose their TPS protections can apply for asylum or some other form of legal status, but otherwise, they will be at risk of deportation. AfghanEvac, a group that has helped relocate Afghans, said in a statement it is "deeply alarmed" by Monday's ruling. "Lives will be upended. Families will be separated. Allies will be detained, deported, or forced into hiding—while their legal rights remain unsettled," AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver said in a statement Monday night. CBS News has reached out to the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and CASA for comment. The Trump administration has sought for months to roll back TPS, a program that allows the government to grant relief from deportation and work permits for people whose home countries are deemed unsafe due to natural disasters or war. The government argues that the TPS program is intended to be temporary, and Cameroon and Afghanistan are now safe enough for TPS recipients to return. Earlier this year, the Trump administration said Afghanistan's security situation and economy have improved despite the Taliban's 2021 takeover of the country following the U.S. military's withdrawal. And the government said a pair of armed conflicts in Cameroon — including a separatist conflict and an insurgency by the extremist group Boko Haram, which the U.S. designated a foreign terrorist organization in 2013 — are "contained in limited regions" and don't imperil people's personal safety in most of the country. "This administration is returning TPS to its original temporary intent," Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a May statement announcing the Afghanistan decision. The State Department has placed a "Do Not Travel" advisory on Afghanistan, warning of the risk of "civil unrest, crime, terrorism, risk of wrongful detention, kidnapping, and limited health facilities." The department advises travelers to Cameroon to exercise caution, and not to travel to certain parts of the country due to armed violence, crime and terrorism. CASA has argued in court papers that both countries are unsafe, and TPS recipients could be endangered if they're forced to return to their home countries. The group says the conflict in Cameroon — which involves English-speaking separatists in a mostly French-speaking country — has created a humanitarian crisis and wrecked the African country's economy. And people from Afghanistan, the group notes, were made eligible for TPS because of repression by the Taliban and conflict between the group and ISIS-K insurgents. CASA also argues the administration hasn't followed the correct legal processes to end TPS, and contends the decision was "preordained" and based partly on "racial animus." "That animus is evidenced by the Trump Administration's efforts to eliminate lawful immigration status for noncitizens from countries the Administration believes are predominantly non-white, while simultaneously removing immigration barriers to noncitizens from countries the Administration believes are predominately white," the group said. Earlier this month, a lower court judge denied DHS's request to dismiss CASA's lawsuit, but also denied CASA's motion to halt the administration's policy. CASA appealed, causing it to reach the 4th Circuit. The Trump administration has sought to wind down TPS for hundreds of thousands of other migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti. In May, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to end TPS for Venezuelan Montoya-Galvez contributed to this report.
Indian Express
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
‘I will try to save them': Trump vows to save Afghans facing deportation from UAE
US President Donald Trump said he will try to help Afghan refugees who have been detained in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since they fled their country after the Taliban took power. 'I will try to save them, starting right now,' Trump wrote on Truth Social, linking to a report about the Afghans held in the UAE. According to Reuters, Trump referred to a report by 'Just the News', which claimed that UAE officials may hand over some refugees to the Taliban. Reuters said it had not confirmed that report. The UAE agreed in 2021 to temporarily shelter thousands of Afghans who were evacuated from Kabul after the US withdrawal. Since then, many have remained in legal limbo. Canada accepted about 1,000 of them in 2022 at the request of the US, but it is not clear how many are still in the Gulf country. Nearly 200,000 Afghans were brought to the United States under former President Joe Biden. Trump's administration, however, ended protections for many Afghans in April and had earlier suspended refugee resettlement after he took office. Some countries have already started sending Afghan refugees back. The United Nations said nearly 2 million Afghans were returned from Iran and Pakistan in the past seven months. On Friday, Germany deported 81 Afghan men, and several European countries are also reviewing their asylum policies. Many of the Afghans stuck in the UAE include people who worked for the US government during the 20-year war, children waiting to reunite with parents, and family members of Afghan-Americans who served in the US military. Shawn VanDiver, president of the advocacy group #AfghanEvac, said Trump should take clear steps to follow through on his words. 'President Trump has the authority to do the right thing,' VanDiver told Reuters. 'He should instruct the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department to speed up processing, work on third-country partnerships, and make sure we never again leave our wartime allies behind.' The US State Department did not comment on the situation when asked by Reuters.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump admin. blocked from ending deportation protections for Afghans for now
An appeals court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking deportation protections and work permits for thousands of people from Afghanistan. The administration had planned to end temporary protected status for Afghanistan on Monday, part of a broader push to cut back a program that gives migrants reprieve from deportation if their home country is deemed unsafe. The administration argues those protections aren't meant to be permanent and Afghanistan's security situation has improved, though opponents say the country remains unsafe and revocation would force people to uproot their lives. But in a late-night ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit blocked the administration from putting into place its withdrawal of temporary protected status for one week. The court's administrative stay didn't weigh in on the merits of the case, instead giving the administration and CASA — a group that sued the government over its policy — time to file briefs. "We are pleased with the Fourth Circuit's decision to temporarily pause the termination of TPS for Afghanistan," CASA legal director Ama Frimpong said in a statement, adding the group will push for a longer-term pause. "Although temporary, every moment counts when it comes to families figuring out their futures and being protected from ICE's terror." AfghanEvac, a nonprofit that has helped relocate Afghans, told CBS News the ruling "offers a brief but critical window of relief." "TPS has been a vital lifeline for tens of thousands of Afghans who supported U.S. missions or fled Taliban persecution. Ending it would not only uproot families and destabilize communities, it would betray a promise we made," AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver said in an email. "We are heartened by the court's stay, but this isn't a victory—it's a pause. And it underscores the need for permanent protections, not political whiplash every few months." The White House criticized the ruling. "Once again, a rogue judge is trying to infringe on the separation of powers and impede the Trump administration's rightful ability to carry out its immigration policy. Temporary Protective Status is meant to be 'temporary' in nature. We look forward to ultimate victory on the issue," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. Some 11,700 Afghans are enrolled in temporary protected status, or TPS, according to federal estimates. The program was extended for Afghanistan in 2023, under the Biden administration, which cited a "deepening humanitarian crisis" and "economic collapse" in Afghanistan since the U.S. military's 2021 withdrawal led the Taliban to retake the country. The program is separate from the more permanent "special immigrant visas" issued to Afghans who worked for the U.S. military, often as translators. And migrants enrolled in TPS can apply for other forms of relief, including asylum. TPS for Afghanistan was set to expire in May of this year unless the Trump administration chose to extend it again. Two months ago, DHS announced it would end the program in mid-July, saying the administration was "returning TPS to its original temporary intent." "Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent[s] them from returning to their home country," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said. CASA sued Noem over the decision. The group argued the government had not followed the right procedure to end TPS, and alleged the decision wasn't motivated by whether Afghans still qualified for protection, but instead was "part of the Trump Administration's broader effort to reduce the number of nonwhite immigrants in this country." The government pushed back on the lawsuit, writing that Noem has "broad discretion" over which countries qualify for TPS, and arguing the court shouldn't intervene because the protections are only meant to be temporary. Last week, a federal judge denied DHS's request to dismiss the lawsuit, but also denied CASA's motion to halt the administration's policy. CASA appealed that ruling, and on Monday, an appellate court put the revocation of TPS on hold while it considers the case. The Trump administration has sought to wind down TPS for scores of other countries, impacting hundreds of thousands of migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti, Cameroon and Afghanistan. The program had been expanded by former President Joe Biden, but President Trump has shifted to a more hardline stance on immigration. The TPS rollback has drawn some lawsuits, but in May, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to end TPS for Venezuelan migrants while the legal battles continue. Trump pushes senators to make $9.4 trillion in spending cuts Watch: Trump takes questions on Pam Bondi, the Epstein files, inflation, Russia and more Congressman scolds protester at college antisemitism hearing: "Shut up and get out of here"
