Afghan relatives in holding pattern

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It:

Afghan families in limbo.

Some Afghan war allies who resettled in the US after the fall of Kabul have been waiting for their families to join them. But the Trump administration’s refugee cap of 7,500 has paused many of those admissions.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Those allies say the cap puts their families at risk. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher reports.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Phillip’s brother has been trapped in Afghanistan since the American withdrawal in 2021.

PHILLIP: Anytime any moment I could I may not hear from him that he could get prosecuted or killed by the Taliban.

To clarify, “Phillip” isn’t this man’s real name. We’ve agreed to use a pseudonym to protect his brother’s identity. We’ll be referring to two other Afghan servicemembers quoted in this piece by pseudonyms as well. In each case, we’re trying to protect the identities of their families.

Phillip used to work alongside the US military in Afghanistan and faced threats to himself.

PHILLIP: I was able to secure a special immigrant visa, migrated to the U.S., and immediately, in order to give back, I enlisted in the military in 2015.

Since then, Phillip has deployed as a soldier to Iraq, Kuwait, and his native country of Afghanistan. With the Taliban back in power, Phillip has been working to secure his brother’s safe passage to the United States. The process ground to a halt after President Donald Trump took office in January.

PHILLIP: There is no sort of like a communication to see what the progress has been done of their relocation to safety.

Just hours after beginning his second term, Trump shut down the US Refugee Admissions Program, or USRAP. The White House claimed the Biden administration overextended the program, leaving the nation ill-equipped to take in large numbers of new refugees. As such, the country wouldn’t take in any more refugees until it, quote, “aligns with the interests of the United States.”

But some advocates say the program aligns with the interests of the United States right now. Shawn VanDiver is the president of AfghanEvac, an organization that advocates for America’s Afghan Allies.

VANDIVER: It is bad politics. It's bad for our national security. And this program is popular. 90% of the American public, want our wartime allies to be able to come here.

VanDiver says his organization has repeatedly petitioned the administration with letters and emails on behalf of the family members of soldiers like Phillip.

For ten months, VanDiver says they’ve received no response.

So, earlier this month, VanDiver and Phillip took to the halls of Congress to meet with federal officials in person.

VANDIVER: These are people's lives that are on the line. And people in Washington, D.C., enjoying a cocktail while the families of our service members are being hunted down by the Taliban? That’s just unacceptable.

It isn’t just people in Afghanistan that the administration has prevented from coming to the United States. Some Afghan family members of U-S servicemembers are currently in Qatar.

JACK: I was worried about my siblings. After the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021, I was worried about them because of their association with me as a service member.

Jack has been serving in the U.S. Army Reserves since 2021—at about the same time the Taliban takeover put his family in jeopardy.

Late last year, two of his siblings got relocated to Qatar, and they were scheduled to move to the United States in February. But once Trump took office in January, those plans were cancelled.

VanDiver explains that Jack’s family is in the same boat as a lot of other Afghan servicemembers’ families. And it’s a boat the Trump administration could easily bail them out of.

VANDIVER: Some of these folks have family on the site at Camp Al Saliyah in Doha. That is a State Department-run facility where they could just decide to bring them here. They have the power within the Executive Order 14163 to just approve exemptions. But they haven't even tried.

All those individuals have been vetted and cleared to travel, VanDiver explained.

Another Afghan soldier in the U-S Army Reserves joined VanDiver, Phillip, and Jack on their trip to the Hill.

Mark started as a translator and interpreter for the U.S. Military in 2005.

MARK: I was in various missions and all sorts of operations supporting U.S. military there. And in 2012, when I come to the U.S., I joined the U.S. Army. And since then, I am still serving in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Mark says his family members still in Afghanistan were vetted and cleared for travel to the United States before President Trump took office. When he found out about the administration’s new refugee cap 10 months later, Mark said he was disappointed.

MARK: I thought my family would not make it in at least the next three years. I'm hopeful that President, maybe I think President Trump doesn't know about family members of U.S. military service members. And if he knows, probably he will take action and he will do something.

The White House last week told WORLD in an email that no refugees would be coming to the United States at all until the government reopened. In response to a follow-up this week, the White House referred me to the Department of Homeland Security and to the State Department. They did not immediately respond to my request for comment.

But Mark—who told me he voted for Trump—says he’s holding out hope the White House might change course:

MARK: If he wants to take action, the family members of U.S. military are not exceeding like maybe more than 2,000 or something. And he can still include those to bring them over here and to give them a pathway at least.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher in Washington, D.C

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