Trump order suspending refugee resettlement affects US Afghan allies, says advocacy group 

Washington — 

President Trump’s enforcement bid suspending the U.S. exile programme would impact the resettlement of thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. during the warfare successful Afghanistan, an advocacy radical said.

AfghanEvac, a California-based conjugation of organizations helping U.S. Afghan allies to resettle successful the U.S., said Monday that the intermission successful each exile resettlements would impact Afghan allies who are awaiting relocation to the U.S.

“Thousands of Afghan allies who person completed astir each required steps successful the exile process would beryllium instantly impacted by a exile resettlement pause, and thousands much who are presently undergoing processing would stay successful limbo,” AfghanEvac said, successful a connection connected its X account.

President Donald Trump signed an executive bid on Monday that called the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program detrimental to U.S. interests and suspending it opening connected January 27.

“This bid suspends the USRAP until specified clip arsenic the further introduction into the United States of refugees aligned with the involvement of the United States,” stated the enforcement order.

It called connected the caput of the Department of Homeland Security, successful consultation with the caput of state, to study to the president wrong 90 days if the programme “would beryllium successful the interests of the United States.”

The bid added that each 90 days, a study would beryllium submitted to the president until helium “determine[s] that resumption of the USRAP is successful the interests of the United States.”

According to Shawn VanDiver, president of AghanEvac, much than 180,000 Afghans were relocated successful the U.S. from August 2021, aft the Taliban seized powerfulness successful Afghanistan, to December 2024.

Thousands of Afghans are inactive waiting to beryllium relocated to the United States.

AfghanEvac said that the bid would not lone person an interaction connected at-risk Afghans surviving successful hiding but besides connected the household members of the active-duty U.S. troops.

Earlier, Reuters reported that the flights of 1,660 Afghans cleared by the U.S. authorities to resettle successful the U.S. were canceled.

But the president of AfghanEvac, Shawn VanDiver, said successful a station connected X that nary flights were canceled.

“To beryllium clear: flights person not yet been canceled for anyone,” VanDiver said.

Omar Samad, a erstwhile Afghan diplomat surviving successful the U.S., told VOA that the prohibition is portion of a larger bundle and it volition interaction Afghans who are waiting to beryllium relocated to the U.S.

“It is going to beryllium reviewed by the U.S. agencies, and it is imaginable that they that the U.S. marque an objection for Afghans,” Samad added.

VanDiver said that the conjugation of organizations helping Afghans are moving to “secure exemptions for Afghan allies.”