TRUMP BLOCKS FLIGHTS TO U.S. FOR APPROVED REFUGEES, INCLUDING U.S. MILITARY FAMILY MEMBERS AND AFGHANS WHO HELPED OUR TROOPS

Impact has left refugee aid groups locally and nationally in shock

By Miriam Raftery

Photo via Pentagon:  Troops evacuating Afghans after fall of Kabul

January 26, 2025 (San Diego) – Following an executive order issued by Donald Trump to suspend refugee resettlement,  the Trump administration has cancelled all flights for over 10,000 refugees already approved to resettle in the United States. According to Associated Press. This includes over 1,660 Afghans who helped America’s military as well as relatives of active-duty U.S. military personnel, Reuters reports.

The impacts hit hard in San Diego County, which in recent years has resettled more refugees from around the world than any other county in the U.S. including refugees from Africa, Asia, war-torn Middle-Eastern countries such as Iraq and Syria, Ukraine and other European nations, Haitian refugees fleeing natural disasters, and many more.

“This executive order is a step backwards for America,” the International Rescue Committee states on its website, urging the Trump administration to reverse the order. 

The Trump administration has taken down entirely the State Department's page on the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

The IRC, which helps to resettle vulnerable refugees, warns, “If the program is not restored, political dissidents, religious minorities, and the most vulnerable victims of war and disaster will pay the price, and so will the United States.”

The 1980 Refugee Act established the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which has been managed by the U.S. government, working with the United Nations Refugee Agency to identify, screen and vet backgrounds of refugees for resettlement in the U.S. This has historically been a bipartisan effort that has significantly boosted the economy.

Refugees have contributed a net positive $124 billion to the U.S. economy from 2005 to 2019, the IRC site states, citing a Health and Human Services webpage that the Trump administration has since taken down.

The Trump order claims,"The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.  This order suspends the USRAP until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States." The order cites no studies to support any of these statements.

Photo, right by Rachel Williams, East County Magazine: Syrian refugee children in El Cajon, 2016

San Diego Navy veteran Shan VanDiver is president of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of veterans and advocates who have helped Afghans obtain permission to resettle in the U.S. after the fall of Kabul at the end of the war in Afghanistan in August 2021. The organization’s policy goa states, “After 20 years of war, the United States has an obligation to help relocate and resettle those who risked all to assist our forces on the battlefield.

After the Trump order banning refugee flights, VanDiver told KPBS, “Veterans, advocates, Afghans are all freaking out, worried about the people that they love.”

He added that the Afghan refugees include “partner forces that stood alongside our U.S. forces” as well as “family, children, babies that were separated during the withdrawal and after. It means lawyers, judges, and prosecutors who put the Taliban away.”

Many have been waiting for years in Pakistan, Jordan, Turkey or other nearbyl nations before receiving permission to come to the U.S.  If returned to their homeland in Afghanistan, they could face ostracization, mistreatment or even death at the hands of the Taliban now in control. Others remain in Afghanistan.

Among those in limbo are the father, mother and two brothers of Omid Shiraz, an Uber driver who came to the U.S. on a special immigrant vias three years ago and plans to move to La Mesa this month. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Shirzad’s father was a general in the Afghanistan army who served with American troops and had a Priority One Visa under the U.S. refugee admissions program to come here.  Shirzad said of his family members now stranded in Afghanistan, ”They are sleeping with fear every night.”

Noori Barka in El Cajon, founder of the Chaldean Community Council and an Iraqi imimigrant, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that Trump’s order could also affect Iraqis hoping to come to the U.S. A Trump supporter, he voiced hope that through negotiations, the Trump administration may be persuaded to change its order.  “I believe that we can make things happen if we approach it the right way,” Barka said.

The Alliance for African Assistance in San Diego posted on Facebook, "These harmful laws blocking refugee resettlement are a tragedy for America. Refugees have already enriched our economy and communities. Denying them the chance to contribute further undermines the values that built this nation."  The post notes that many famous people have come to the U.S. as refugees, including Albert Einstein and Madeleine Albright.

Krish O;Mara Vignarajah, head of Global Refugee, one of 10 U.S. resettlement agencies, notes that refugees are different than asylum seekers who come to the border.  Refugees must be living outside the U.S. when they apply for resettlement and are typically referred by the United Nations to the U.S. State Department.

Unlike the undocumented immigrants whom Trump has long vowed to target, Vignarajah said in a statement issued January 22, “Refugees go through one of the most rigorous vetting processes in the world, and many are now seeing their travel canceled just days, or even hours, before they were set to begin their new lives in the United States.”

Sources:

Trump cancels flights for Afghan refugees approved to come to U.S. (KPBS)

Afghans who assisted U.S. troops among those targeted in federal suspension of refugee program (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Afghans who fled Taliban rule urge Trump to lift refugee program suspension (AP)

Alliance for African Assistance post on social media

International Rescue Committee statement on social media