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He helped the U.S. bomb the Taliban. Now Trump’s refugee ban has stranded him in Afghanistan
Thousands have had their refugee flights cancelled and applications halted since President Donald Trump suspended refugee admissions his first day in office.
Nasir has barely slept in the three days since he learned that President Donald Trump was indefinitely suspending refugee admissions into the U.S.
A former lieutenant colonel with the Afghan Army and Air Force, the 32-year-old was part of the U.S.-led campaign in his home country, approving thousands of airstrikes against the Taliban and the Islamic State terrorist group from 2017 to 2021. When the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, it forced Nasir and his family into hiding. (The Chronicle is identifying Nasir by only his first name because he is being sought by the Taliban.)
He filed for refugee status two years ago. He had completed his final interviews in November and was expecting a call scheduling his family’s flights to Qatar, which processes Afghan relocations to the U.S. Nasir planned to stay with a friend in Virginia.
Trump’s executive order indefinitely halting refugee admissions extinguished that hope. While the order is set to take effect Jan. 27, approved refugees have already had their flights canceled and pending cases have been halted, stranding tens of thousands of people in countries where they face persecution and threats to their lives.
His actions financially crippled refugee resettlement agencies, and it took the Biden administration four years to rebuild an infrastructure for vetting and accepting people displaced by catastrophe and conflict, a mission that has largely been bipartisan for the past 45 years.
In the Jan. 20 executive order, Trump justified the refugee ban by saying that the U.S. has been “inundated” with record levels of migration from refugee admissions and that small towns have seen influxes of migrants.
The number of refugees accepted by the U.S. has generally declined since the program started in 1980, when the country accepted about 207,000 refugees, and reached all-time lows under Trump.
Refugee admissions gradually increased under President Joe Biden, reaching 100,034, a 30-year high, at the end of the 2024 fiscal year.
Immigration advocates point to the positive economic impact of refugees and say that the U.S. has the capacity to accept more refugees. A 2024 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found refugees and asylees contributed $124 billion in a positive fiscal impact over a 15-year period, including through paying federal, income, sales and property taxes.
Late Tuesday, the U.S. State Department informed resettlement organizations that it was canceling all previously scheduled refugee travel and future bookings, according to a copy of a State Department email shared by the nonprofit coalition #AfghanEvac, which supports Afghan refugees.
AfghanEvac founder and president Shawn VanDiver said his organization estimated 40,000 to 60,000 Afghans would be affected by the ban, including 10,000 to 15,000 who were already vetted. He said an estimated 200 U.S. military service members also had pending cases to bring their Afghan family members over as refugees.
These refugees, many of whom are fleeing Taliban persecution for assisting the U.S. in its 2001 to 2021 war in Afghanistan, are now stuck in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries they escaped to. VanDiver said the Trump administration ought to, at the very least, make an exception for the U.S.’ Afghan allies.
“Afghans are refugees because of us,” VanDiver said. “They’re in danger. Imagine if you’re a refugee with a document in hand, you thought you were getting to fly today, and your American dream has been dashed.”
The State Department did not respond to detailed questions about how many approved refugees have had scheduled travel canceled.
“In accordance with the Executive Order, ‘Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program,’ the Department of State is coordinating with implementing partners to suspend refugee arrivals to the United States and cease processing activities,” a State Department spokesperson wrote in a statement.
Robin Mencher, CEO of Jewish Family and Community Services East Bay, which works on refugee resettlement, said that 22 client families have had their resettlements frozen this week.
“The climate of fear is very real for our clients and the community,” said Reena Arya, the nonprofit’s director of immigration legal services. “The threat of increased enforcement, changes to immigration policies and the pervasive anti-immigrant sentiment have put our communities on edge.”
On a Wednesday video call organized by the #WelcomeWithDignity Campaign, a coalition of 125 organizations, Melissa Crow, director of litigation at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, said Trump’s actions will cause “untold suffering” to refugees and immigrants across the globe
“Border shutdowns and asylum bans have only ever created more chaos, dysfunction and pain and they are designed to punish people for seeking safety and to foster hatred and fear of immigrants,” Crow said.
Nasir said he has received no communication from the U.S. State Department about the status of his case. He has no idea what to do, he said.
He does not consider neighboring Pakistan, which in late 2023 began deporting Afghan refugees, an option. But Nasir, his wife and 12-year-old son, who hasn’t been able to attend school since 2021, are not safe where they are. The Taliban has seized their home, Nasir said, and twice kidnapped and tortured his brother for information about Nasir’s whereabouts.
“My message for U.S. citizens, for Trump, his administration, is to reconsider this decision because that decision puts many lives in danger and at risk,” Nasir said. “Taliban are serious about what they are doing. They are not joking with us. They are taking lives.”
