By Sophia Doan
In 2021, the United States military withdrew all of their troops from Afghanistan, allowing the Taliban, a religious extremist group, to re-take over the country. Because the U.S. had such a notable presence in Afghanistan, offering education and job opportunities to thousands, many Afghans have been in danger due to association with the United States government. Thousands worked with the government, in various positions from government to schooling. Anyone who associated themselves with the government during the time of the United States military presence remains in danger from the Taliban, as they consider the United States some of their enemies. This unique situation caused mass evacuation and immigration for many years, still continuing today. Over 130,000 Afghans have been relocated with the help of the government. Since the U.S. government was partially responsible for the danger many Afghans found themselves in, there were unique visa and immigration laws that applied to their situation.
This graph depicts the spike in evacuation right after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan. Since then, there has been a steady flow of immigrants to the United States (bbc.com). This graph does not reflect the current immigration state, but shows the influx immediately after Taliban control.
This special government assistance was absolutely necessary to help relocate Afghans in danger for aiding the United States. To this day, programs of evacuation are still in place. One program had planes of fully approved refugees to relocate to the United States. More than 1,600 Afghan refugees had gone through the lengthy paperwork and immigration process to come to the United States (theguardian.com). However, when the Trump Administration put a halt to all immigration, their flight was canceled. “Refugee arrivals to the United States have been suspended until further notice,” read one email from the U.S. agency overseeing refugee processing (apnews.com). This order even stopped refugees who were at risk and reuniting with lost family members in the United States, who had everything they had initially required completed. Not allowing these refugees to even board the plane to come to the United States violates many promises made by both the prior Trump and Biden Administrations that vowed to protect and relocate them. Concerns over both the safety of the immigrants and the perception this situation will create about the promises of the United States continue to grow.
Currently, there hasn’t been an official statement from the Trump Administration regarding this unique immigration situation, just the order that currently prevents them from coming to the United States. Many activists and organizations are trying to fight this, seeing the dangerous situation many of them are placed in. Until an official statement is released specific to the Afghan immigrant predicament, the planes will not come to the United States.