(NewsNation) — For 20 years, American troops relied on local Afghans to help them in their fight against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Now, many of the people who helped America are one week away from possibly being deported back to their troubled homeland.
An estimated 12,000 Afghans are living in the U.S. legally with Temporary Protected Status, but it’s set to expire on July 14. Unless the Trump administration reverses its decision, many living here could be sent back to Afghanistan, leaving them vulnerable to reprisals from the Taliban.
NewsNation spoke with an Afghan living in America with this protected status. They said, “It’s not that I will be the only person who will be physically tortured or abused, but my relatives are moving between places just to mitigate the risk and avoid unnecessary targeting and attention toward them.”
According to members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, some of whom are veterans themselves, the move puts America’s reputation at risk and threatens national security.
“That would be a moral stain on America. The rest of the world would look at America and say, Americans don’t keep their promises. Americans don’t stand by their friends, just imagine how less safe we will be as a country if that’s the reputation we have,” said Afghanistan veteran Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo.
Vietnam veteran, Rep. Jim Baird, R-Indiana, pointed out, “How many people are you going to get to come work with us if we can’t honor when we say we’re going to do something and don’t do it?”
In the termination announcement, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said, “Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevents them from returning to their home country.”
The Trump State Department has issued a Level 4 Do Not Travel warning due to armed conflict, civil unrest, crime, terrorism and kidnapping.
At a Monday briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Biden administration abused TPS and Trump views it as temporary admission into the country, not an invitation for permanent residence.
Even if an Afghan in the U.S. loses their status but is not deported, they and their families could still struggle.
The Afghan we spoke with explained, “If I am not able to support them financially, I think the impacts will be catastrophic because there is no work. My family is primarily female-headed and they’re not authorized, they’re not allowed to work, they’re not even allowed to go out. So it will be a nightmare.”
According to a recent report by the United Nations, the situation is dire, particularly for women. It finds the Taliban have systematically excluded women and girls from public and political life, enforcing policies that specifically target “the choices, rights and bodies of Afghan women and girls.” This includes banning girls from education past the sixth grade, restricting employment, and gender-based violence.
For those who have sought refuge in the United States, there could be some hope in the form of an asylum claim or other visa. However, bureaucratic hurdles complicate the process.
“The Special Immigrant Visa Program, that SIV program, is supposed to take no more than 270 days of government processing time. On average, it takes upwards of 800. That is per the State Department’s own reports,” according to Andrew Sullivan, executive director at No One Left Behind, which helps evacuate and advocate for U.S. wartime allies who have supported the U.S. mission.
Sullivan explained what these Afghans also sacrificed. “When we would get in firefights and the Taliban would attack us, you know, the interpreters were right there alongside us. They were facing the same exact risks as us.”
Advocates of the Afghans hope the Trump administration has a change of heart.
“I just can’t underscore enough how critical those Afghans were to making sure we could safely and securely perform our mission and bring my soldiers home alive,” said Crow.
Baird is optimistic. “I have great confidence in our president… he has enough people, I think, now around him to be able to evaluate that and do it to the benefit of those that deserve it,” he said.
There are just days left for the decision to be reversed.