Latest news with #EnduringWelcome
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Afghan Allies Left Behind as Trump Administration Ends Resettlement Programs and Issues Travel Ban
Last week, the Trump administration eliminated the Congressionally mandated entity that oversees vetted Afghan allies' travel to the U.S. and stated that it will dismantle the program that oversees their resettlement, continuing the series of blows dealt to our Afghan allies since January 20. In a document sent by the State Department to multiple Congressional Committees on May 29, the Department announced that "the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) Office will be eliminated and its functions will be realigned to the Afghanistan Affairs Office." The decision angered Rep. Dina Titus (D–Nev.), sponsor of the CARE Authorization Act, which passed with bipartisan support in November 2024. The act states that the Secretary of State "shall appoint" a coordinator for a term of three years to assist in relocating and resettling "eligible Afghan allies," facilitating the relocation of American citizens or legal permanent residents, and coordinating with the interagency. On May 29, Titus shared a video on X of a question she asked of Secretary of State Marco Rubio only a week earlier, as he came before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "We are going to continue with this Afghan relocation…this CARE office, is what you're committing to me?" Titus asks. "We're going to comply with the statutory requirements," Rubio replies. "Clearly, he lied," Titus commented. Two days later, the White House's Technical Supplement to the 2026 Budget included notice that the government will soon terminate the Enduring Welcome program, "the U.S. Government's long-term resettlement program which relies on standard immigration pathways for immigrant visa, Afghan Special Immigrant Visa, and refugee admissions programs." "The Department will shut down the Enduring Welcome program by the end of FY 2025," the document explains. With no additional funds for the program, the document states that "any remaining prior-year balances will be used solely to finalize contractual and/or other legal obligations." I asked the State Department whether CARE will recommence funding travel for vetted allies prior to its July 1 sundown date, and whether the Trump administration has made a final decision about the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), the 90-day suspension and review of which was meant to end on April 20. I received no response. On June 4, days after announcing the sunset of the systems that assist our allies, the Trump administration announced via executive order that it will ban travel for nationals of 12 countries, including Afghanistan. There are exceptions for Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants, and the executive order states that it does not "limit the ability of an individual to seek asylum, refugee status, withholding of removal, or protection under the [Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment of Punishment]." Shawn VanDiver, president of the nonprofit #AfghanEvac, said the exemption for SIV applicants is "functionally useless" given that CARE and Enduring Welcome no longer exist to help with resettlement and travel. According to VanDiver, the order blocks some family reunification programs, eliminates student visas for Afghans, and "does nothing to help our allies, including the family of active duty U.S. military service members stranded" in third countries. The nonprofit No One Left Behind expressed gratitude for the SIV exemption in a press release but noted that the order does not protect Afghans "who were injured in the line of duty and were unable to complete a full year of service" or "the women and men of the Afghan National Army who trained and served with U.S. Special Forces," among others. Advocates, such as veteran Elizabeth Lynn, director of government affairs at the nonprofit evacuation organization Operation Recovery, are concerned about the developments. "It is as if the chaos of the withdrawal in 2021 continues and our allies are not just being left behind but dumped. Ending both Enduring Welcome and CARE places this administration at the epicenter of the chaos," Lynn said. "Essentially stranding our allies across the globe while potentially deporting them from the United States," is something Lynn said veterans and "people around the world will remember." Multiple Afghans, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, explained the impact these decisions have had on them. Ahmad, who has been waiting on a Priority-1 referral to the USRAP due to his work with the Ministry of Interior, has been living in Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar for nine months. He says that the elimination of CARE has increased his "stress and sadness" as "CARE was a vital source of support, hope, and guidance for us during such a difficult time." Ahmad reports that camp life "has become more unstable" as families have "started to lose hope about relocating to the U.S." "Personally, my 206 bones have pain from inside," Ahmad said, though he said he tries "to hold on to hope." Feroza said that "living in Afghanistan is [a] nightmare as a girl who worked with USA government [sic]." Though it feels that "they left us behind and totally forget us [sic]," she implores the U.S. to relocate its allies to countries friendly to Afghan women if it will not help them directly. Masud says that his "adorable" son perished of cerebral palsy while he underwent USRAP processing in Pakistan because he "wasn't able to help him with proper medical care and treatment due to our refugee status" and a lack of funds. Awaiting word about the USRAP, Masud says he is "devastated." Nasir, another USRAP applicant, says he faced "extremely difficult conditions" once he made the difficult decision to relocate to Pakistan on the U.S. government's advice after working for several years on projects supported by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the U.S. Agency for International Development. After selling his Kabul home "for half its value," Nasir says he "faced three years of hardship and instability," including a lack of employment and education for his two children, and a "constant fear of deportation." Though his case was in its final stages and he was set to travel to the U.S. within two weeks of the January suspension of USRAP, Nasir says he is now "trapped in limbo." The post U.S. Abandons Afghan Allies as Trump Administration Shuts Down Resettlement Programs appeared first on
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Veterans groups urge Trump admin to continue Afghan ally support program amid budget cut concerns
A leaked budget proposal sent on April 10 from the White House Office of Management and Budget to the U.S. State Department highlighted the Trump administration's posture toward Afghan allies, particularly those awaiting transportation to the U.S. through the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) as part of Enduring Welcome. The OMB budget proposes ceasing additional funds to CARE and using the program's $600 million balance "for the orderly shutdown of the CARE program by end of [fiscal year] 2025." The National Security Council and State Department did not answer Fox News Digital's questions about whether these funds would be used to transport additional Afghans in the Special Immigrant Visa and the suspended U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) pipelines to the U.S., or simply to disassemble processing platforms in the Philippines, Qatar and Albania. Exclusive: As Afghan Christians Face Deportation, Faith Leaders Urge Trump Administration To Reconsider But a State Department spokesperson did tell Fox News Digital, "The Department is actively considering the future of our Afghan relocation program and the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE). At this time, no final decisions have been made. CARE continues to provide support to Afghan allies and partners previously relocated to our overseas case processing platforms." Veteran experts told Fox News Digital that the shutdown of CARE would be a problem for America's reputation and for the allies who believed in U.S. promises of safety. Read On The Fox News App U.S. Navy veteran Shawn VanDiver, founder and president of the #AfghanEvac, told Fox News Digital that Operation Enduring Welcome is "the safest, most secure legal immigration pathway our country has ever seen" and allows well-vetted Afghans "to show up in our communities and start businesses and become job creators… in a time when we have a labor shortage." VanDiver noted areas where Trump could improve on the Biden administration operation, which was carried out "so slowly that people have been left behind in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, in 90 countries around the world… for three and a half years." Particularly in Pakistan, the Biden administration promised the Pakistani government "that it would process Afghans quickly," VanDiver said. "We haven't been keeping up our end of the deal; 10,000 people are stuck in Pakistan right now because President Biden couldn't house them fast enough." VanDiver emphasized that "President Trump has an opportunity to be a hero to veterans and our wartime allies, and demonstrate that when the United States makes a deal, it keeps its promise." In an open letter sent on April 23 to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and national security advisor Michael Waltz, #AfghanEvac states that "over 250,000 Afghans remain in the relocation pipelines." Andrew Sullivan, executive director of the nonprofit No One Left Behind, told Fox News Digital that his organization supported congressional authorization in 2024 for the three-year appointment of a Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, which had "wide bipartisan" and "wide bicameral support." Retired Army Captain Dedicates His Medal Of Honor Award To Fellow Soldiers In Afghanistan "Our belief is that Congress spoke for a reason and CARE should exist," Sullivan said. "We have a moral obligation and a national security imperative to ensure that we're continuing the facilitation of movement and safe refuge for our wartime allies." Ending Operation Enduring Welcome and the CARE program "just spits in the face of veterans like myself, who've been working to try and keep our promise to the Afghans who fought with us for 20 years," Sullivan said. In addition to two Iraq deployments, Sullivan deployed to Zabul, Afghanistan, as a U.S. Army infantry company commander in 2013. In February, he "deployed forward" with No One Left Behind to processing platforms in Tirana, Albania, and Doha, Qatar, after a Jan. 20 executive order reassessing foreign funding, thus ending government-funded flights for SIV applicants. Thanks to "robust American support that comes from across the political spectrum," No One Left Behind received sufficient donations to fund travel for more than 1,000 Afghans. "In Albania, I met someone that had been paralyzed by the Taliban after being shot twice," Sullivan said. "I met someone that had been tortured and shackled, hands and ankles together, for over a week before his release was secured by village elders." Both individuals were moved from Afghanistan in December 2024, which Sullivan says proves Afghans are still "facing brutality, absolutely facing death, if they remain in the clutches of the Taliban." Sullivan says that "those same things could happen" to tens of thousands of Afghans left behind by the Biden administration. This includes "10,000 principal [SIV] applicants and their families," who, according to State Department quarterly reports, have already received Chief of Mission approval, the SIV program's first hurdle. With no word about the fate of allies, many worry about Taliban retribution. So do numerous Afghans in the U.S. who learned in April that their parole has been revoked or their temporary protected status (TPS) was terminated by Secretary Noem. Questions sent to the Homeland Security were not immediately returned. Bill Roggio, editor of the Long War Journal and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that sending allies to Afghanistan "would be a death sentence for many." "The Taliban have demonstrated that they have – and continue to – ruthlessly hunted down Afghans who worked with the U.S. and former Afghan government," Roggio said. "Thousands have been murdered or tortured. The Taliban cannot be trusted in any way, shape or form. Their past actions, such as openly flaunting the failed Doha agreement and allowing al Qaeda safe have, or refusing to negotiate with the now defunct Afghan government, demonstrate this."Original article source: Veterans groups urge Trump admin to continue Afghan ally support program amid budget cut concerns
The National
04-03-2025
- Politics
- The National
Republicans urge Trump not to 'abandon' Afghan wartime allies
Leading foreign policy Republicans on Tuesday issued a rare criticism of US President Donald Trump's purge of the diplomatic corps, urging the administration not to dismantle the State Department agencies charged with assisting Washington's former Afghan partners to resettle in America. Congressman Mike Lawler, who chairs the House Middle East subcommittee, along with former foreign affairs committee chairman Mike McCaul and Congressman Richard Hudson, sent a letter to President Trump urging him not to dismantle the State Department's Office of the Co-ordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (Care), and its Enduring Welcome programme. 'Such a decision would abandon over 200,000 wartime allies and have lasting consequences for America's global credibility, military operations, and veterans,' the Republicans wrote, describing the potential move as 'an urgent national security matter.' The Enduring Welcome programme was established for Washington to resettle in the US 'tens of thousands of brave Afghan allies at risk who worked closely with us diplomats, aid workers and military personnel' over the course of the Afghan war. 'These are not random applicants or illegal migrants … every individual in the Enduring Welcome pipeline served alongside American forces, risked their lives for our mission and was promised a path to safety,' the letter continued. Threats of programme closure under the Trump administration come after a month of sweeping executive actions aimed at US federal workers and a halt on foreign aid – causing chaos in US diplomatic and humanitarian missions around the globe. The Republican signatories have been among those on Capitol Hill to lead investigations into the Biden administration's chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021. Mr McCaul led a Congressional probe into the withdrawal that saw the Taliban seize Kabul and a deadly attack at the city's airport that killed at least 170 Afghan civilians and 13 American troops. Republicans have largely fallen in line with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency purge of federal programmes and workers. The letter expressing 'concern' marks a rare moment of criticism from Mr Trump's fellow party members. His cut to US foreign assistance has already stressed operations in Afghanistan, including threats of depriving more than nine million people of health and protection services, with hundreds of mobile health teams being discontinued.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration weighs closing office overseeing resettlement of Afghans to the U.S.
The Trump administration has told the office overseeing the resettlement of Afghans to the United States to draw up plans to shut down by April. The move could strand more than 250,000 Afghans and their families who face persecution from the Taliban for their ties to America, according to a refugee advocate and two sources with knowledge of the matter. 'This is a national disgrace, a betrayal of our Afghan allies, of the veterans who fought for them and of America's word,' Shawn Van Diver, president of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of U.S. veterans and advocacy groups, told NBC News. No final decision has been made about the future of the Enduring Welcome program managed by the State Department's Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, known as CARE. But office staff members were instructed to prepare plans to wind down operations by the end of March, Van Diver and the two sources said. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters first reported the preparations. Created after the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan in 2021, CARE oversees efforts across U.S. government agencies to evacuate at-risk Afghans, process them in third countries and resettle them in the United States under a program called 'Enduring Welcome.' It also works to address the challenges women and girls face under the Taliban, who have rolled back their rights and protections. Among the over 250,000 Afghans who could be stranded if the office is closed are 128,000 people in Afghanistan who worked for the United States and have applied for special immigrant visas along with their families, as well as several thousand Afghans who were fully vetted and are waiting in Albania, Qatar and other countries to travel to the United States, according to U.S.-based refugee advocates working with the Afghans. The Afghans potentially affected also include family members of 200 active-duty Afghan American U.S. service members, unaccompanied minors waiting to be reunited with their parents and relatives of Afghans already settled in the United States. The discussions around closing the State Department CARE office are separate from the freeze on refugee resettlement and foreign aid that President Donald Trump ordered on his first day back in office. Tahera Rezaei, an Afghan veterinarian who lives in Chicago after having worked with Americans in Afghanistan, said she has been trying to get her family members out and is shocked and confused that the flights may be shut down. 'I keep saying this has to be a mistake or an oversight. We were told that those who worked with USA would not be left behind,' she said in a message to NBC News. 'We all followed the rules, and I cannot believe this is actually happening.' She added: 'I am worried about my family I tried so hard to bring them here but now I'm heartbroken.' Van Diver said American military veterans will be devastated if their Afghan partners are left behind in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. 'President Trump brought up Afghanistan at every single debate. Does he know that his administration is now abandoning the very Afghan allies who fought and shed blood alongside those service members? We cannot believe that President Trump is aware of what's happening here,' Van Diver said. 'Veterans put their own credibility on the line to bring our Afghan allies home. We told them that America keeps its word. Now this administration is making liars out of all of us,' he said. Van Diver and other advocates said it was not too late to salvage the program with either a decision from the Trump administration or action by Congress. Kim Staffieri, executive director of the Association of Wartime Allies, a nonprofit group that helps Afghans who worked for the U.S. government, said she hoped the Trump administration would preserve the resettlement effort, as it did in Trump's first term. 'We made promises. They stood by our troops. We owe it to them to bring them to a place of safety. And we hope the administration will continue processing their applications, as they did last time,' she said. The Taliban has jailed, tortured or killed Afghans who fought or worked for the former U.S.-backed government, according to the United Nations. The Taliban deny that, saying they announced a 'general amnesty' for former government soldiers and officials when they returned to power. Thousands of Afghans who are awaiting U.S. resettlement from third countries are in Pakistan, which says it will deport those awaiting relocation back to Afghanistan by March 31 unless their cases are swiftly processed by the governments that have agreed to take them, The Associated Press reported. This article was originally published on
NBC News
20-02-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Trump administration weighs closing office overseeing resettlement of Afghans to the U.S.
The Trump administration has told the office overseeing the resettlement of Afghans to the United States to draw up plans to shut down by April. The move could strand more than 250,000 Afghans and their families who face persecution from the Taliban for their ties to America, according to a refugee advocate and two sources with knowledge of the matter. 'This is a national disgrace, a betrayal of our Afghan allies, of the veterans who fought for them and of America's word,' Shawn Van Diver, president of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of U.S. veterans and advocacy groups, told NBC News. No final decision has been made about the future of the Enduring Welcome program managed by the State Department's Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, known as CARE. But office staff members were instructed to prepare plans to wind down operations by the end of March, Van Diver and the two sources said. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters first reported the preparations. Created after the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan in 2021, CARE oversees efforts across U.S. government agencies to evacuate at-risk Afghans, process them in third countries and resettle them in the United States under a program called 'Enduring Welcome.' It also works to address the challenges women and girls face under the Taliban, who have rolled back their rights and protections. Among the over 250,000 Afghans who could be stranded if the office is closed are 128,000 people in Afghanistan who worked for the United States and have applied for special immigrant visas along with their families, as well as several thousand Afghans who were fully vetted and are waiting in Albania, Qatar and other countries to travel to the United States, according to U.S.-based refugee advocates working with the Afghans. The Afghans potentially affected also include family members of 200 active-duty Afghan American U.S. service members, unaccompanied minors waiting to be reunited with their parents and relatives of Afghans already settled in the United States. The discussions around closing the State Department CARE office are separate from the freeze on refugee resettlement and foreign aid that President Donald Trump ordered on his first day back in office. Tahera Rezaei, an Afghan veterinarian who lives in Chicago after having worked with Americans in Afghanistan, said she has been trying to get her family members out and is shocked and confused that the flights may be shut down. 'I keep saying this has to be a mistake or an oversight. We were told that those who worked with USA would not be left behind,' she said in a message to NBC News. 'We all followed the rules, and I cannot believe this is actually happening.' She added: 'I am worried about my family I tried so hard to bring them here but now I'm heartbroken.' Van Diver said American military veterans will be devastated if their Afghan partners are left behind in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. 'President Trump brought up Afghanistan at every single debate. Does he know that his administration is now abandoning the very Afghan allies who fought and shed blood alongside those service members? We cannot believe that President Trump is aware of what's happening here,' Van Diver said. 'Veterans put their own credibility on the line to bring our Afghan allies home. We told them that America keeps its word. Now this administration is making liars out of all of us,' he said. Van Diver and other advocates said it was not too late to salvage the program with either a decision from the Trump administration or action by Congress. Kim Staffieri, executive director of the Association of Wartime Allies, a nonprofit group that helps Afghans who worked for the U.S. government, said she hoped the Trump administration would preserve the resettlement effort, as it did in Trump's first term. 'We made promises. They stood by our troops. We owe it to them to bring them to a place of safety. And we hope the administration will continue processing their applications, as they did last time,' she said. The Taliban has jailed, tortured or killed Afghans who fought or worked for the former U.S.-backed government, according to the United Nations. The Taliban deny that, saying they announced a 'general amnesty' for former government soldiers and officials when they returned to power. Thousands of Afghans who are awaiting U.S. resettlement from third countries are in Pakistan, which says it will deport those awaiting relocation back to Afghanistan by March 31 unless their cases are swiftly processed by the governments that have agreed to take them, The Associated Press reported.
