When President Donald Trump issued a proclamation last week blocking nationals from Afghanistan and 11 other countries from traveling to the United States, it added to the fear, uncertainty and sense of betrayal that some vulnerable Afghans were already feeling.
There are a number of immigration pathways for Afghans to come to the US, but practically all of them have been impacted during the Trump administration. Thousands of Afghans have already been left in limbo by cuts to services and offices intended to help them apply for visas. Those who qualify for refugee status have been affected by the almost total shutdown of resettlement efforts. Others already living in the US under Temporary Protected Status may now have to leave as the administration announced it is ending that program.
Wednesday’s travel ban does provide an exception for people with Afghan Special Immigrant Visas, or SIVs, which are reserved for those who worked for or on behalf of the US for at least a year during the country’s nearly two decades of war in Afghanistan.
But scores of others who helped the US do not necessarily qualify for SIVs, advocates say. Some may not meet the one-year employment requirement, for example, or do not technically meet the definition of having worked directly for, or on behalf of, the US government. They and others like family members with any affiliation to the US remain at risk of reprisal.
Advocates have welcomed the SIV carveout, but many note that in practice, it does very little because of the administration’s other cuts and policy changes.
“The issue with that exception is that it is sort of a straw man, because separately, under different auspices, the administration is dismantling the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts. They’re shutting that office down by July 1,” said a former State Department official.
The State Department has told Congress in a notice that the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts “will be eliminated and its functions will be realigned to the Afghanistan Affairs Office.”
The former State Department official also noted the administration is ending Enduring Welcome, a program that helps Afghan SIV recipients and applicants get to a third country to finish immigration processing. Because the US does not have a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, applicants must complete their visa interviews in another country.
“It sounds nice that there’s a carveout for SIVs and we need to have a carveout for SIVs, but we also need the supporting infrastructure to help them get here and begin a life in the United States,” said retired Lt. Gen John Bradley, who founded the Lamia Afghan Foundation, which provides humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.
The State Department did not immediately reply to a CNN request for comment
Afghans seek clarity on their families
Afghans who received SIVs and spoke with CNN said they still have family members and friends in Afghanistan or third countries like Pakistan – which has returned hundreds of thousands of refugees to Afghanistan, according to the United Nations.
“There are some obviously just tragic cases of folks that had to flee the Taliban and had to leave family members behind, and so it’s really important that those SIVs are able to reunite with their spouses and children,” said Andrew Sullivan, the executive director of No One Left Behind, a charity that supports former interpreters and US government employees who are eligible for Iraqi and Afghan SIVs.
Although immediate family members should fall under the SIV carveout, many SIV holders who spoke to CNN still expressed confusion and fear about whether the fate of their loved ones who remain in limbo will be affected by Trump’s proclamation. Advocates noted that although organizations are trying to explain the ban’s impact, it is likely not fully understood on the ground.
“Frankly, our immigration system, while it is working as it was designed, it is designed to be confusing, and so people aren’t sure what this travel ban means for their particular type of case,” the former State Department official said.
One Afghan, who said he worked alongside US forces in Afghanistan and is a US service member, has been trying to bring family members to the US since Afghanistan fell back under Taliban rule in 2021.
CNN is calling him H. — he and others in this story spoke anonymously for fear of retribution for their loved ones.
H. said it’s not clear whether the travel ban impacts his younger brother, who does not qualify for an SIV and fears for his children and wife under the harsh repression of the Taliban.
“I wouldn’t even know what this travel ban means and how this is going to affect people,” H. said.
H. said his brother is no longer concerned about himself, but wants his wife and daughter to be able to lead a normal life by being able to go to school and out in public. The Taliban has increasingly excluded women from public life, imposing a swathe of draconian laws since it regained power.
Zia Ghafoori, a former interpreter who now heads the Interpreting Freedom Foundation, which helps interpreters with the SIV process and US resettlement, called the administration’s moves a betrayal.
“I voted for our new administration, for our president, Donald J. Trump,” said Ghafoori, who was recognized by Trump in remarks at a Medal of Honor ceremony in 2019, “and I was super happy that now we could able to help our veterans and our allies because most of those high-ranking officials have been deployed to Afghanistan, and they have seen our Afghan partner services that they provided for them.”
“There was a lot of happiness on our allies’ faces when they took over, they thought they will make it to the US. But unfortunately, that’s opposite, and every month or two, we are putting a different policy and different rule for each status of Afghan holders,” Ghafoori said, noting that many of his former comrades still in Afghanistan or Pakistan have lost hope.
Another Afghan in the US, who CNN is calling M., said it’s also unclear what the ban means for his family still in Afghanistan because his own future feels up in the air. He qualified for entry to the US under a number of categories, having worked for the US during the war. But he came to the US under the Fulbright Program and his SIV visa was approved after he arrived. He has now applied for a green card, but he doesn’t know its status.
He is hopeful that once he has his green card, his wife and daughter will be able to join him despite the travel ban. He has yet to meet his almost-4-year-old daughter, as his departure from Afghanistan was accelerated as its government collapsed in August 2021.
“They booked my flight on the 15th (of August 2021),” he said. “My baby girl was born on the 19th, and I’ve not seen her.”
Even if someone has an SIV and can get on a flight (some private organizations have stepped in to pay for them), there are concerns that the ban will be mistakenly applied to them. The travel ban goes into effect on Monday. According to guidance sent by the State Department to its diplomatic posts, the ban does not affect existing visas.
Anna Lloyd, who runs Task Force Argo, a volunteer group that worked to evacuate thousands of Americans and Afghans when the Taliban took over, said organizations will be carefully waiting to see whether the exceptions are honored when the ban goes into effect.
“Whichever Afghan ally arrives at a port of entry on June 10, we are all going to be watching,” Lloyd said.
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