The expectations that President Donald Trump will soon prevent Afghans and Pakistani from entering the United States have expelled panic among Afghans who were promised visas for their work with the US army, according to three refugee defenders.
The Trump administration is preparing a new prohibition of traveling that will prohibit foreign citizens from several countries traveling to the United States based on concerns related to security and research, according to defenders who said they were directly informed by government officials. Afghanistan and Pakistan will probably be part of that blacklist, and the prohibition of traveling could be announced as soon as next week, they said.
Reuters first reported the proposed travel ban.
In his first term, Trump imposed prohibitions of similar trips to Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.
A state department spokesman said Friday that the agency is making a complete review of all visa programs, but did not offer any details about countries under consideration.
“The visa award process must ensure that foreign travelers bound for the United States do not represent a threat to national security and public safety of the United States,” added the spokesman.
The refugee defense groups have appealed to the Administration to make an exception for tens of thousands of Afghans who have received or who will receive visas from special immigrants (SIV) for their work for the US army or the US embassy during the 20 -year American war in Afghanistan.
But without guarantee that the White House forje an exception for Afghans who worked as interpreters or in other works, non -profit organizations are competing to help Afghans fly to the United States before a prohibition arises.
Thousands of Afghans who are in Pakistan, Qatar and Albania and who have Papeleo SIV are struggling to obtain final approvals and organize flights to the United States with the help of refugee aid organizations, the defenders said.
“The news of a possible prohibition of traveling imposed on Afghans has created a total panic within the SIV community,” according to Kim Staffieri, co -founder and executive director of the Association of Allies on Friday, a non -profit organization that helps Afghans to be resettle in the United States.
The frantic atmosphere reminds the chaos that marked the withdrawal of the United States of Afghanistan in 2021 under the Biden administration, when the Taliban militants quickly enruta the troops of the Afghan government and confiscated the control of the capital, the staff and other defenders said.
“In many ways, their despair and expressions of hopelessness are worse now that what we hear in August 2021 during the chaotic neo (non -combatant evacuation operations,” Staffieri said.
“They, in addition to civil society defenders, are surprised that we are going through this again,” he said, added: “Our promises to our allies in times of war once again question.”
A nonprofit organization that helps Afghans who worked for the United States government, Afghanevac, issued an urgent alert on Wednesday that advise all Afghan citizens who have valid visas from the United States to “travel as soon as possible” to the United States, citing “credible indications” of an imminent prohibition of trips to Afghan nationals.
Shawn Vandiver, Chief of Afghanevac, said he expected the president and his assistants to forge an exception for Afghan partners, especially given the amount that Trump’s campaign criticized the old White House of Biden for his management of the strange justification of the United States.
“Trump’s people had a lot to say about the Biden administration that left people (Afghas), and they were,” Vandiver said. “And now they are not raising a finger to help our allies in times of war, at least what we can see.”
Last month, NBC News reported that the Trump administration told the office that it supervises the resettlement of Afghans to the United States to prepare plans to close possibly in April. The measure could see more than 250,000 Afghas and their families that face the persecution of the Taliban for their links with the United States.
In an executive order issued on the day of the inauguration, Trump ordered the State Department to identify countries “for which the research and detection information is so poor that it guarantees a partial or complete suspension in the admission of nationals of those countries.”
The President gave the State Department, together with other federal agencies, 60 days to present a report on the requested list of countries.
