Advocates are working to relocate people from Afghanistan with special immigrant visas in anticipation of potential travel bans as the Trump administration enacts stricter immigration policies.
Departments are expected to provide recommendations to the White House by the end of the week identifying countries “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries,” through the Immigration and Nationality Act. The executive order enacted by President Trump includes the heads of the Department of State, Justice Department, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Homeland Security.
A State Department spokesperson confirmed the agency is reviewing visa programs, as directed by Trump. The spokesperson said the visa adjudication process “must ensure that US-bound foreign travelers do not pose a threat to the national security and public safety of the United States.”
An administration official said no decisions have been made.
However, a report due to the White House may include Afghanistan in a list of countries recommended to bar entry from, according to a US official.
“What people are looking at over these last several days is not a list that exists here that is being acted on,” said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce.
“When it comes to the nature of Afghanistan and those who have helped us, the arrangements we have made already in the past, getting as many people from that conflict here, certainly those who have assisted us and worked with us, that’s been a policy and a dynamic that we’ve worked on from certainly even the previous administration, working to try to get that happening,” Bruce said.
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The administration has not commented on internal deliberations, details or specific countries.
“All very premature. For those of you who are familiar with this from the previous administration, it’s a security assessment that’s made on a wide variety of factors. Do they accept their deportees? Do they share security information? Do they have good biometrics? Do they have control over their own territory? Do they engage in intelligence sharing? There’s a wide variety of assessments that go into the determination,” said White House deputy chief of staff and homeland security advisor Stephen Miller.
Trump enacted a travel ban against several majority-Muslim nations during his first term. The order was challenged but upheld by the Supreme Court. While campaigning, Trump promised a return to his first administration's immigration policies, with the Republican platform supporting a travel ban.
“Wouldn’t that be a stupid thing for me to say,” President Trump said last week when asked which countries he’d target for a travel ban.
But advocates aiding Afghans who helped the U.S. and their families are preparing for a ban.
“Right now we understand that in the State Department version, Afghanistan is on the red list, and also there's an exemption for the SIV pipeline. Now that may not make it out of the State Department to the White House with that exemption still intact,” said Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac. The coalition, which formed amid the United States’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, brings together organizations helping Afghans resettle. “We're hoping that when the report goes over, they sort of do some reconciliation, and it stays in there for wartime allies. But this is just, It's unconscionable to think that this, that these wartime allies in the refugee and SIV track wouldn't be allowed to continue arriving and have the help that they've earned when they arrived.”
Advocates are seeking clarity from the administration.
“The ambiguity surrounding this issue is unnecessary and cruel. After years of uncertainty, our wartime allies deserve clear and unequivocal answers, not word salads and clever Washington games,” AfghanEvac said in a statement.
The considerations come as efforts to resettle Afghan families of U.S. service members, people who aided the U.S. military and unaccompanied children waiting for family reunification have been impacted by the Trump administration’s recent executive actions. The orders halted the refugee admission program and paused foreign aid.
A State Department spokesperson said the processing of Afghan special immigrant visas continues, but relocation flights from Kabul to third-country processing platforms for Afghan refugees and SIV applicants have been paused. Those with a special immigrant visa can arrange their own travel to the United States.
While SIV case processing is occurring, there are no funds for travel or resettlement benefits, according to a U.S. official.
VanDiver indicated there are private efforts underway to sponsor those with a special immigrant visa, with more than 200 helped so far.
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“But 5,000 a month were leaving before. So the scale is just not the same,” said VanDiver.
Previously, a State Department spokesperson confirmed it was considering the future of its relocation program for Afghans and the office that coordinates it, but at last check, no decisions had been made.
Lawmakers have urged the administration to reconsider efforts to shut down the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts and Operation Enduring Welcome, warning it would abandon hundreds of thousands of allies and impact global credibility.
“Every individual in the Enduring Welcome pipeline served alongside American forces, risked their lives for our mission, and was promised a path to safety. The Afghans in this program are the most vetted immigrants in U.S. history having undergone extensive screening by DHS, DOD, FBI, CIA, and the State Department,” wrote Congressmen Lawler, McCaul and Hudson in a letter to the president. “The Taliban considers anyone who worked with the U.S. to be an enemy. They are being hunted, detained, and executed.”
“Without Enduring Welcome, Afghans who qualify for relocation have no legal pathway to reach safety and cannot simply "apply from home"—their only options are escape or death,” the lawmakers wrote.
