Trump executive order threatens fate of Afghan refugees who helped the US, advocate warns

President Donald Trump’s executive order to suspend the US refugee program could leave at least 2,000 Afghans in limbo who had previously been approved to resettle in the US, a major Afghan advocacy organization is warning.

President Donald Trump’s executive order to suspend the US refugee program could leave at least 2,000 Afghans in limbo who had previously been approved to resettle in the US, a major Afghan advocacy organization is warning. “These people have been waiting long enough,” Shawn VanDiver, the founder and president of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of organizations that has been working to bring Afghan allies to safety since the end of the war in 2021, told CNN. “They’re in hiding, they’re in limbo, and President Trump campaigned about Afghanistan. … He started the end of the Afghan war and now he’s got to finish it. And that means bringing all of our allies to safety.” The group of people immediately impacted include the families of roughly 200 US service members, as well as families of people who have already relocated to the US, VanDiver said. Flights for those impacted in the short term have not been cancelled yet, he added, as the government has to work through implementing the order. The executive order, titled “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program,” says the admission of refugees under the program “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. The program is being suspended, beginning on January 27, for at least 90 days, if not longer. The order says that, after 90 days, the secretaries of Homeland Security and State will submit a report to Trump on whether or not the program “would be in the interests of the United States.” A report will be submitted every 90 days afterwards until Trump determines that it is.