Afghan refugees stuck in the limb after the executive order

HAmida has organized rural women’s health clinics and a midwife network. Mohammed protected the detainees for the US Army. The Hekmatullah’s brother worked on US government projects. Sumaba’s father was a high -level judge who presided in sensitive cases. Heyal taught field workers for the International Organization of Assistance. They all escaped from Afghanistan with their families to Pakistan, somewhere after the disorderly seizure of the US military in 2021. They went through a long process of legal entrance to the US as refugees. Several of them had plane tickets to America.

Now they are stuck.

One of the first that President Donald Trump did when he arrived for office was to suspend Receiving refugee program for 90 days. This actually meant that all the work stopped on the processing of documents of people running to the United States through persecution. One refugee agency reported that more than 500 flights for more than 1000 already tested refugees from the region have been canceled.

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Shortly after signing the executive order, Pakistan’s government, that says it has about 1.5 million refugees and seekers of refuge from Afghanistan (some of whom arrived during the Soviet occupation ) declared that the inhabitants of Afghanistan who could not find the country that took them had to leave Ravalpindi and Islamabad – cities where most of them live because they have access to the Internet and government and assistance – by March 31. After this time, they will be repatrified.

According to Sean Vanddo, the founder of #Afhanivak, veterans and other groups operating in the region, Afghan refugees based in Pakistan were approved as ready for travel. Now they are in a terrible dead end. They cannot move forward and cannot be pulled back. Their cases will not progress at least on April 25, and maybe never. They will be even more undesirable in Pakistan after March 31, and nothing but poverty And the danger awaits them in Afghanistan, where the latter returned are considered with deep suspicion or worse. One refugee says he was warned of “unknown armed men” who kills the returned. “The only armed men in Afghanistan are Taliba,” he adds.

Time talked to several people who were interested in pauses and agreed to use only one of their relatives to prevent repression by the authorities of Afghan authorities or the discovery of Pakistani authorities.

Hamida had to fly to Doha, and then Pennsylvania with a man and a young child on February 3. On January 25, she received an email from her contact with an international migration organization, informing her that she would not travel. She left Afghanistan to the pleas of her father -in -law, who said that the local authorities were told that her previous work with NGOs for her mother’s health would mean that her presence in their composition could threaten the whole family.

She was horrified by his return. As soon as they understand who she is, she says, “I am 100% sure that I will not be alive for more than a week.” She now lives in a one -room house. The 30-month visa process, during which her claim on refugee status was checked and approved, depleted their savings. Avoid picked up by the Pakistan policeThey close the door of their one -room apartment and remain hidden for most of the day. Her husband no longer goes to work he had done before. Their baby rarely goes outside. They buy products at night. Now the former project manager of 60 60s supports his family, who is engaged in sewing at home. “We will try to survive here if we can,” she says. “I don’t know what we will do but I’m sure we won’t go to Afghanistan.”

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In many ways, Hackmatulla’s brother was lucky than Hamida. Hekmatulla came to the United States a year ago on a special visa of immigrants (SIV), which was provided to those who served near the US Army. (This program also doesn’t work.) He can support his brother financially. But in other ways it is in one boat. Hekmatulla was said that his brother would come to Missouri on February 5, but on January 25, he received an email from a local refugee resettlement agency stating that the trip had been canceled.

His brother, who worked in several US non -governmental organizations during the conflict, is now moving, remaining in various leases and friends every night to avoid caught and departure back to Afghanistan. “Pakistan’s government is looking for Afghan refugees everywhere in Pakistan to arrest them and deport them to their country,” Hekmatulla says. “But in Afghanistan you are not deported. They arrest you.” (Pakistan Embassy did not answer the questions sent by e -mail.)

The Hayela family completed the documents and their travel documents were offered in December. He, his wife and children expected their flight details on any day. “We hoped very much every day until January 20,” he says. They survive for savings from his previous Job, whom he had thrown partially because he was expecting to move to the United States recently, Pakistan’s government began to demand every month, not six -month visa extensions. Everyone, with what can be euphemistically called “processing fees” costs $ 200. Police often visit his apartment building.

It’s 3am where he is when he talks over time, but Heaal says no one in his home is sleeping. “As soon as we heard that the process is suspended, then we can’t sleep, we cannot eat,” he says. “My children are depressed. They have access to social media. They hear everything. I can’t hide anything from them.” He hopes to wait for a pause in Pakistan.

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Sumba family can’t wait. His father was a judge who had to hide in the homes of his relatives when the Taliba took power when the people he condemned came to take revenge. The judge and his family arrived in Pakistan in January 2022. Their resettlement was cultivated Welcome the bodyBaiden’s era program, in which a group of US citizens in this case is a church in the Eastern Tennessa-can sponsor a refugee. This program is suspended.

Suhrab safety sometimes works double changes to support them. His brother, who also left the region, also sends money. Family and church group in Tennessee are looking for another country that would take them, although very few countries give visas to Afghan passport owners. “I was very scared,” says Sukhrab, sitting in my car during a lunch break at work. “What to do if they catch them and they make them get out of Pakistan? I don’t know what will happen to them.”

The church group is also lost. “I am surprised that our US government is doing this, especially refugees,” says Melva McGinis, who coordinated the greeting corps program in a church that previously sponsored another Afghan family. “The previous government is the same as anyone and their brother can come legally or illegally. It is not fair that people trying to come to the states legally should not be allowed to come. I think they should”

However, the course of President Trump was not unexpected. He massively reduced The number of refugees who were allowed to the country, it was last, before the arrival of restrictions related to each-19. Typically, surveys demonstrate a wide variety of Americans on both sides of the political spectrum support America that accepts refugees and Even more Support for refugees from Afghanistan that were related to the US business. Under Biden PresidentThe number of refugees adopted per year went out of the historic minimum of 11,400 in 2021 to the 30-year maximum of more than 100,000 in 2024 in 2024-the total number during its term is punished by how many refugees were adopted by both President Carter (375 000 ) and President Reagan (660,000 for two terms).

More strangely, perhaps the abandonment of the Afghan soldiers who fought alongside the US forces. Mohammed helped protect the detainees at the United States. He passed the application process to come to America twice. After waiting for 18 months for his SIV, he also applied for a visa for refugees, but the processing was not completed until the beginning of a three -month pause. He, his wife, two brothers and daughter -in -law, live in a shack in the wild. “My situation is not useful,” he says. “We have no money for food or medicine.” He and his family eat once a day, with the help of compassionate locals.

Vandeder, #afghanevac, says his two -party group is referring to the Republicans in Congress to see if the cut of already approved refugees in Pakistan or Afghanistan, which is estimated by Afghanistan, can be made. “We have a wide cross section of America, which is presented in our ecosystem,” he says. “Ninety percent of the US public supports these efforts. It’s not something that is unpopular.”

Eric Lebo, a former Navy reservist, served with Muhammad at the air base. “We could not do our work if it was not for him and his soldiers,” Lebo says, now the truck driver in California. “There are all kinds of refugees and immigration things,” he adds. “But I mean people like Mohammed are soldiers who have served alongside the American forces in Afghanistan. Their lives are threatening.”

Mohammed’s brother and parents still live in Afghanistan. Recently, he said – and sends a terrible photo – his brother was shot in his face. Mohammed believes that the attackers perceived his brother for him.