Trump executive order threatens fate of Afghan refugees who helped the U.S., advocate warns

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Evan Vucci/AP)

President Donald Trump’s executive order to suspend the U.S. refugee program could leave at least 2,000 Afghans in limbo who had previously been approved to resettle in the U.S., 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 U.S. service members, as well as families of people who have already relocated to the U.S., 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.

“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,” the order says. “This order suspends the USRAP until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”

One active-duty soldier with the 82nd Airborne Division told CNN he has two family members who will be impacted. The soldier, who is not being identified out of concerns for his family’s safety, said he spoke with one relative Monday night after seeing the order.

“She was just crying,” the soldier said. “It made me cry as well.”

The soldier said he came to the U.S. after the fall of Afghanistan in 2021. After working with U.S. special operations forces as a combat interpreter for a few years, he said he decided to join the U.S. military after relocating to the country because it was “the best way I can give back,” and show Afghans who live in the U.S. are willing to “fight for this freedom.”

The news that his family, who he said has been in hiding because of his family’s connection to working with the U.S., may be stuck in Afghanistan indefinitely, is gutting.

“My concern is, if I get deployed and killed overseas — which I would sacrifice my life to this country any time — even my [relative], she cannot come to my funeral,” he said.

Republicans have been hugely critical of former President Joe Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and the impact it had on service members, veterans and Afghans who served alongside the U.S. military — including Trump’s own national security advisor Mike Waltz, who said the administration had “abandoned” Afghan allies.

In 2022, Waltz criticized Biden over “the thousands of allies we abandoned and made unkept promises of security for their safety to get the accountability they deserve.”

Since the end of the war in Afghanistan in August 2021, more than 180,000 Afghans have resettled in the U.S. An open letter from #AfghanEvac to the incoming Trump administration and leaders in Congress, which urged the continuation of resettling Afghan allies to the US, received more than 700 signatures, including more than 400 veterans, according to the organization.

#AfghanEvac was recognized by the State Department under former Secretary of State Antony Blinken. VanDiver emphasized on Tuesday that the organization is ready and willing to work with the new Trump administration.

But even if the refugee program is suspended for only the first 90 days, VanDiver told CNN, that would impact roughly 2,000 people — including the families of U.S. military service members — who have already cleared the U.S.’ vetting process and are actively prepared to travel.

If the pause is indefinite, VanDiver said, it could impacts tens of thousands more.

“When you’re in hiding, and when you’re terrified, every day feels like an eternity,” VanDiver said. “Years results in lost trust. We are creating national security problems for ourselves by making it impossible for these folks, to whom we made a promise, to enjoy that promise.”

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