Afghan refugees step off a C-130J Super Hercules on Sept. 6, 2021, at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, during Operation Allies Welcome. (Reilly McGuire/U.S. Air Force)
Scores of Afghan relatives of American service members who are awaiting relocation are now stuck in Afghanistan amid President Donald Trump’s halt to the nation’s resettlement program, according to a Reuters report confirmed by refugee advocates.
Shortly after taking office Monday, Trump signed an executive order barring all refugees from entering the United States for at least 90 days starting Jan. 27.
Nearly 1,660 Afghans cleared to resettle in America have already had their flights canceled, with 200 family members of active-duty U.S. personnel among them, Reuters reported.
The number was confirmed by Shawn VanDiver, a veteran and president of the #AfghanEvac coalition, a nonprofit group that has been leading the charge to resettle Afghans.
VanDiver and an unidentified U.S. official told Reuters that the Afghans approved to resettle as refugees were being removed from the manifests of flights they were due to take from Kabul between now and April.
The United States “is suspending refugee resettlement, after communities were forced to house large and unsustainable populations of migrants, straining community safety and resources,” the White House website said about the move.
VanDiver had been urging Trump’s team to make an exception for those facing significant danger under Taliban rule because they fought for the former U.S.-backed government of Afghanistan.
“The truth is this is about loyalty, whether they’re service member families or another refugee that’s in danger in some way because of their association to the United States,” he told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday. “They’ve been loyal to us, and we owe them that same loyalty.”
The Taliban regained power in a stunningly swift takeover of the country in the summer of 2021 while U.S. forces were withdrawing.
Since the withdrawal, the U.S. has been working to evacuate Afghans and their families who served alongside American forces in both military and diplomatic roles over the course of the nearly 20-year war.
Through special immigrant visas and refugee status, the U.S. has evacuated more than 180,000 Afghans, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month.
The executive order was part of a sweeping set of immigration reforms during Trump’s first hours in office.
It stipulates that in 90 days, the secretary of state must issue a report about whether resuming the program would benefit the interests of the United States. That has advocates worried about an indefinite pause to refugee entry.
“We warned (Trump’s transition team) that this was going to happen, but they did it anyway, VanDiver told Reuters. “We hope they will reconsider.”
