Thousands of Afghans face expulsion from US as Trump removes protections

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Sat 21 Jun 2025 08.00 EDT
Last modified on Sat 21 Jun 2025 08.01 EDT


Thousands of Afghans who fled to the US as the Taliban grabbed power again in Afghanistan are in mortal dread of being deported back to danger in the coming weeks amid the Trump administration’s anti-immigration crackdown. Many, including some who assisted US forces in Afghanistan before the botched withdrawal by the military in 2021, are contending with threats to their legal status in the US on several fronts. Donald Trump revoked safeguards from deportation for those in the US covered under temporary protected status (TPS), by taking Afghanistan off the list of eligible countries then, not long after, put Afghanistan on the list of countries affected by the revamped travel ban.

Afghans are also affected by Trump’s refugee ban and that all comes amid almost daily news of stepped-up arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) affecting undocumented immigrants and also many with a legal status, from Central and South America, parts of Africa and Asia and other regions, caught in the dragnet and sending terror rippling through other communities.

Shir Agha Safi, the executive director of Afghan Partners in Des Moines, a non-profit in Iowa where there are 500 families who evacuated from Afghanistan to escape the re-empowered Taliban, said members of his community are “traumatized because they have seen what happened to Venezuelan immigrants in other states”.

The loss of TPS for Afghans, which also provides employment authorization, goes into effect on 14 July. With the government’s announcement, Safi said some in his community are too afraid to speak openly but had told him “they would choose suicide over being tortured and killed by the Taliban”. Asked to elaborate, he said: “They have said this because the Taliban is still there and if you send an Afghan back to Afghanistan that would mean a death penalty.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/21/afghanistan-trump-deportation-threat

[tulipsandroses]

1. Shameful. I don't blame other countries that never trust us again

I don’t know how long it will take to repair our reputation.

[Bayard]

3. Many of these people helped us while we were there at great risk to themselves

trump knows nothing of self-sacrifice. He only cares that his own minions remain loyal to HIM.

[tulipsandroses]

4. Agreed. This America first idea is bullshit. There are so many people around the world that put their lives at risk to

help America. I am from an immigrant family from Jamaica. When Reagan invaded Grenada, the neighboring Caribbean islands assisted the USA, including Jamaica. My dad was a soldier in the Jamaican army at the time.

America asks soldiers and civilians all over the world to help in wars and various missions. Yes, we have the strongest army, but we are not in battle by ourselves.

Furthermore, knowing the terrain, the land, the people is not something we can do by ourselves. We rely on local folks, no matter how much technology we have.

Some of these keyboard warriors will never put their own lives in harm’s way. But demand cruelty for those who sacrificed.

If we continue down this road, we may be out of luck in the future, when no one wants to help.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. It was TACO Don who negotiated the withdrawal from Afghanistan without the Government at the table.

It is TACO Don responsible here for the lives of those who aided American forces who will likely be killed once returned to Afghanistan. The fiasco that was the withdrawal is on him, not Joe Biden.

Let us remember, TACO Don DOES NOT PLAN things out! Only God can end this madness.

[Kid Berwyn]

5. Sounds like a terrorist.

We know there aren’t any white supremacist ones, but still, that’s what he is.

[kimbutgar]

6. I saw an article in the WSJ today that Stephen miller is calling the shots he is the evil behind this

He is the orange taco hitlers Roy Cohn.

Stephen Miller’s Fingerprints Are on Everything in Trump’s Second Term
The deputy chief of staff has played an outsize role in immigration—and amassed more power than almost anyone else at the White House.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/stephen-miller-trump-immigration-c1e0e924?st=h3LpTx&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Sorry couldn’t get rid of the paywall. But what I read Stephen Miller is the pseudo president.