Latest news with #VanDiver
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
California funds community resource event for Afghan community
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The protection status is set to be removed in July for refugees from Afghanistan living in San Diego County. Now, state and local advocates are hosting a free community resource event open to all Afghan community members and allies all week long at the Town and Country Resort in Mission Valley. The event is free and is being paid for by the state of California, and comes on the heels of the Trump Administration moving to end temporary protection status for thousands of Afghan refugees in July. 'It's important for your viewers to know the federal government will not be there,' said founder of #AfghanEvac, Shawn VanDiver. He's one of the speakers at the event. VanDiver says the fair is to help guide the Afghan community to the resources they need from food assistance, housing, and mental wellness to job placement. Immigration attorneys will also be available to discuss status questions. 'If you're an Afghan and waiting for family or waiting for permanent status, you don't know what to believe or what to expect. It's scary,' said VanDiver. 'They can get help from qualified immigration attorneys to help them navigate those things. They should not be leaving without checking with a qualified immigration attorney first.' There will also be a job fair at the event to help with placement. The event is being held every day through Friday and runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DHS ends deportation protections for Afghans
The Department of Homeland Security terminated humanitarian relief Monday that allowed individuals from Afghanistan to remain in the United States as long as the country was deemed unsafe. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the end of temporary protected status, or TPS, for Afghanistan, stating that the return of individuals to the region no longer posed a threat to their personal safety. 'We've reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our interagency partners, and they do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation,' Noem said in a DHS release. 'Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country.' However, U.S. service members and Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the war in Afghanistan and whose family members still live in the country told Military Times in February that the region was patently unsafe. They said they constantly feared for their loved ones' lives and said the Taliban were actively hunting anyone affiliated with the United States government. The termination of TPS will go into effect on July 12, the DHS release said. Temporary protected status — a protection from deportation awarded by the U.S. to individuals who would otherwise face danger if they return to their country — was offered during the Biden administration to Afghan nationals fleeing Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrew from the country. Noem cited the shift in policy as part of an overarching effort to 'restore integrity' in the American immigration system. DHS consulted with the State Department and analyzed a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services review of Afghanistan's conditions as part of its decision, according to the DHS release. The policy shift is unconscionable, said Shawn VanDiver, CEO of AfghanEvac, an organization that assists Afghan allies and refugees with relocation efforts. 'Afghanistan remains under the control of the Taliban,' VanDiver said in a statement. 'There is no functioning asylum system. There are still assassinations, arbitrary arrests, and ongoing human rights abuses, especially against women and ethnic minorities.' Trump order blocks families of US troops from leaving Afghanistan VanDiver, speaking to Military Times, described the termination's ripple effects. 'A lot of these people are students or people who were brought here by the United States government during the withdrawal,' he said. 'By nature of them having been in the United States of America for the last three and a half years, they're now in danger.' He also said it would affect individuals' livelihoods, since losing TPS for many would mean they could no longer work. 'We're going to create this epidemic of homelessness,' he said. VanDiver estimated that more than 11,000 individuals from Afghanistan living in America would be affected by the termination of TPS. DHS' move to end TPS for Afghans comes on the heels of the department's separate decision to resettle white South African refugees in America, a decision that AfghanEvac labeled a 'hypocrisy' in the face of the government's dismantling of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, or USRAP, for Afghan refugees earlier this year. U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also expressed dismay at the administration's focus on South African refugees. 'It is baffling as to why the Trump Administration is admitting Afrikaners for resettlement while continuing an indefinite suspension for thousands of legitimate asylum seekers who have fled persecution, often because their lives were at risk,' Shaheen said. President Donald Trump, shortly after suspending USRAP on Jan. 27, signed an executive order on Feb. 7 promising to assist with relocation efforts for white 'ethnic minority' Afrikaners who the order said were being discriminated against. Trump claimed at a White House news conference Monday that white South African farmers were facing genocide in their home country, a catalyst for their swift relocation to the United States. 'Farmers are being killed,' he told journalists at the conference. 'They happen to be white. Whether they are white or Black makes no difference to me. But White farmers are being brutally killed and their land is being confiscated in South Africa.' Police data shows that the majority of murders on farms that took place between 2020 and 2024 however, involved Black South Afrikaners, according to The New York Times. Upwards of 40 white South Africans granted refugee status by the Trump administration arrived Monday at Washington Dulles airport in Virginia, according to multiple reports.
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
Fox News
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
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 Operation 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. 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. U.S. Navy veteran Shawn VanDiver, founder of the #AfghanEvac coalition, 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." "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."
CBS News
12-03-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. military blocked from reaching American soil
In August 2021, Tamim Satari raced to the Kabul International Airport to evacuate Afghanistan after working with the American military as an intelligence officer, helping U.S. forces coordinate aerial bomb campaigns against the Taliban. But in the chaos of the U.S. withdrawal, his wife and newborn son were left behind. "It was so hard, and we didn't want to lose our small son," Satari said. He was not alone. Thousands of Aghan families were separated in the rushed withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Babies were passed across throngs of people and over fences, and families scrambled to get through the gates to the airport. Three years later, more than 10,000 families remain separated, according to Shawn VanDiver, the founder of #AfghanEvac, a nonprofit that worked with the State Department to create a path to reunite separated Afghan families. "There's all these moms or dads or young children who are stuck here without their family," said VanDiver. "These people are in danger because of us. And the least we can do is help them reunite." He says the number of children separated from their parents includes 2,800 unaccompanied refugee minors — children who made it to the U.S. but whose parents did not, or who were left behind as their parents fled. VanDiver works with the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, known as CARE, a State Department program that was established to assist wartime Afghan allies immigrate to the U.S. Since 2021, the CARE program has facilitated travel for nearly 200,000 Afghans, according to documents reviewed by CBS News. This includes those with special immigrant visas who were wartime allies typically paid by the U.S. government. It also includes Afghan refugees who assisted the U.S. mission in military roles, as civil society members, or those who are family members of those who served. "The truth is, is that every single person in the refugee pipeline and every single person in the [special immigrant visa] pipeline are somebody who took action in our name and are now in danger," said VanDiver. "And these Afghans deserve everything that we can give to them because they protected us." After trying unsuccessfully to bring his wife and son over on his own, Satari connected with CARE in 2023 to get help facilitating their visa process. His wife, Shiba, and their son had escaped to Pakistan after she was threatened by the Taliban for continuing her work as a midwife while her husband was in the U.S. On Jan. 18, the weekend before President Trump's inauguration, Shiba and her son were flown to JFK airport in New York and then driven to Newark, New Jersey, for an emotional reunion with her husband. Tamim had not seen his son, now nearly 4 years old, since he was a newborn. The Sataris' family reunion at Newark Liberty International Airport was one of the last refugee reunions to take place. Three days later, Mr. Trump signed an executive order suspending the U.S. refugee program, stating "the United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees." A federal judge ordered the administration to stop the ban, but since then normal refugee processing has not continued. In a recent court filing, lawyers for the administration said it would take time to restart refugee programs, since agencies have already cut contracts, reduced the workforce and frozen funding. In addition to Mr. Trump's executive order, Secretary of State Marco Rubio froze all federal funding for the programs that were providing travel for Afghans who had already been approved to resettle in the U.S. This means that anyone vetted and approved for travel — including those already holding special immigrant visas — cannot leave Afghanistan unless they are able to pay for the trip themselves. According to government documents reviewed by CBS, more than 40,000 Afghans who have been vetted and approved to leave Afghanistan are now in limbo, with their lives at stake. "I've heard countless horror stories of torture and murder of these allies of the United States," said Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, who voted for the CARE program. "I would urge the administration to take a look at this and to honor the commitment that we made to [our allies], and not break our promise, but let them know that we are going to protect them." But Mr. Trump and other Republican lawmakers have expressed concern that allowing Afghans into the U.S. makes the country more vulnerable to terrorism. McCaul and others who advocate for the program say the vetting is already extremely effective. "You want to vet them again? Go ahead. But they've already been vetted, and probably the most thorough vetting in American history," McCaul told CBS News. Afghans who come to the U.S are reviewed by the State Department, Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. They go through several in-person interviews and their biometrics are checked against government databases, in addition to extensive medical screening. "Afghans who come to this country via the CARE program are the most vetted immigrant population in our county's history," said a former State Department official. Satari remains hopeful he will not be one of the last to be reunited with his family. He has settled in New Jersey and is employed in a mechanical job while he studies for his real estate license. "I have a lot of hope in the future. I would like to have a great life," Satari said. "I am responsible for taking care of my son, to enroll in school and start lessons over there. I have a big hope."
