The administration of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, moved on Monday to end the legal protections that temporarily protected Afghans from being deported, citing an improved security situation in the country governed by the Taliban, AFP reported.
The Secretary of National Security, Kristi Noem, said that the designation of temporary protected state (TPS) for Afghanistan will expire on May 20, and the termination would enter into force on July 12.
“We have reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our inter -institutional partners, and do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation,” Noem said in a statement.
“Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevents them from returning to their country of origin.”
The Federal Law allows the Government to grant TPS to foreign citizens who cannot return safely due to war, natural disasters or other “extraordinary” conditions.
Former Democratic President Joe Biden extended the TPS protections for nationals from several countries a few days before Trump returned to the White House in January.
Since he assumed the position, Trump moved to clear the TPS protections of citizens from several countries, including Haiti and Venezuela, as part of his broader offensive against immigration.
A federal judge in California put a temporary stay in March in plans to end TPS for Venezuelan citizens, and the Trump administration has appealed the decision before the Supreme Court.
In his statement, Noem said that an additional reason to end TPS for Afghan was because “there are beneficiaries who have been under investigation for fraud and threatening our public security and national security.”
According to the non -profit organization Afghanevac, about 11,000 Afghans are currently covered by TPS in the United States.
“The decision to finish TPS for Afghanistan is not entrenched in reality, it is rooted in politics,” said Shawn Vandiver, president of Afganevac.
“Afghanistan remains under the control of the Taliban,” said Vandiver, a veteran American military, in a statement.
“There is no functioning system in operation. There are still murders, arbitrary arrests and ongoing human rights abuses, especially against women and ethnic minorities.
“What the administration has done today is to betray the people who risked their lives for the United States, built lives here and believed in our promises.”
Thousands of other Afghan, including many who worked with the US Army. Or for the deposed Afghan government, received special immigrants visas to the United States after the Taliban acquisition of August 2021.
