\u2022 Move by DHS exposes Afghans to deportation
\n\u2022 WFP unable to fulfil Afghanistan\u2019s food needs amid aid cuts<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration will not renew the protected status of thousands of Afghans legally residing in the United States \u2014 a move that could expose them to deportation next month.<\/p>\n
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed on Friday that it will terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans \u2014 a designation that had allowed them to live and work legally in the country.<\/p>\n
The decision would affect nearly 14,600 Afghans.<\/p>\n
TPS is a legal protection gra\u00adnted to nationals from countries experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions.<\/p>\n
It shields them from deportation and allows lawful empl\u00adoy\u00adment in the United States.<\/p>\n
The Biden administration first designated TPS for Afghans in 2022. The status was extended in 2023.<\/p>\n
However, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said on Friday that Secretary Kristi Noem \u2014 after reviewing upda\u00adted assessments by immigration authorities and consulting with the State Department \u2014 had determined that Afghan\u00adis\u00adtan \u201cno longer meets the statutory requirements\u201d for TPS.<\/p>\n
The decision drew swift criticism from advocacy groups and veterans\u2019 organisations that have supported Afghan allies of the US military.<\/p>\n
Destination<\/p>\n
It remained unclear where these Afghans would be sent in case of deportation, as the US does not recognise the Taliban-led government in Kabul and has no direct flights to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
In such a scenario, deportees are often returned to the country from where they last departed.<\/p>\n
For many Afghans, that would be Pakistan, which is itself currently deporting undocumented Afghans.<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of Afghans had supported US forces during the war \u2014 including as interpreters and contractors. Many were resettled under the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) programme or through the US Refugee Admissions Program, but a significant number are still waiting for their immigration cases to be processed.<\/p>\n
For them, TPS served as a temporary legal safeguard.<\/p>\n
WFP cuts back assistance<\/p>\n
The Afghans are now at risk of being sent back to Afghan\u00adistan, which is already grappling with humanitarian and economic crises.<\/p>\n
Aid organisations working to mitigate the human catastrophe are under strain due to funding cuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2022 Move by DHS exposes Afghans to deportation \u2022 WFP unable to fulfil Afghanistan\u2019s food needs amid aid cuts WASHINGTON: The Trump administration will not renew the protected status of thousands of Afghans legally residing in the United States \u2014 a move that could expose them to deportation next month. The US Department of Homeland […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8093"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8095,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8093\/revisions\/8095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}