On May 24, Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, announced that temporary protected status (TPS) for Afghans residing in the United States would be terminated on July 12.
Without any evidence, and citing The Washington Times, an extremist source that was founded by a cult leader, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services chief Matthew Tragesser stated that Afghan “bad actors” were taking advantage of the program.
To further justify the deportations of Afghans who loyally fought beside and aided American troops, the Trump administration parroted Taliban propaganda, stating that economic conditions in Afghanistan have improved.
Advocacy groups estimate that about 10,000 Afghans in the United States have been dependent on TPS while they navigate the lengthy and complex process for obtaining permanent residency, a process made all the more difficult, they say, by the absolute chaos that defined Afghanistan’s collapse — and by the guidance they received from the U.S. government while trying to escape.
The Washington Post
Many Afghans who worked with the United States and for the allied pre-Taliban government were ineligible for Special Immigrant Visas as they did not work directly for the United States. Even those that were eligible had to destroy their documents while fleeing the Taliban, which would almost certainly kill them if captured.
Tens of thousands of Afghans who supported American interests could not get to the United States both as a result of the country’s hasty retreat from Afghanistan, and Trump’s elimination of “legal immigration pathways, particularly humanitarian protections for those who fled crises abroad.”
The crisis began with the deal Trump made with the Taliban, without the presence of former Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani’s legitimate government, for American forces to leave Afghanistan. It fell onto former President Biden to honor the deal, which he did, ultimately dealing a devastating political blow to him. However, Afghan allies in the United States stand to suffer far more from Trump’s decisions to retreat from Afghanistan, then expel the people that sought refuge because of said retreat.
