More than 1,600 Afghans eligible to enter the US as refugees will see their entry blocked under an executive order signed by Donald Trump on Monday evening that suspends the resettlement of all refugees to the United States for an indefinite period of time.
The decision has led to panic among prospective Afghan refugees, including family members of hundreds of active-duty service personnel and children waiting to be reunited with family members already in the US, according to a leading refugee resettlement activist and a US official who spoke with the Guardian on condition of anonymity.
Many of those who have applied are in danger and have time-sensitive reasons to leave the country or neighbouring Pakistan because of their past association with the US, they said. After the White House published the executive order on Monday evening, refugees eligible for resettlement will be pulled from manifests for flights leaving the region for the US as of 27 January.
That leaves one week for advocates of Afghan refugees to lobby for a separate executive order or amendment to exclude them from the ban.
The decision threatens to overturn a promise made to Afghans across multiple administrations – including by Trump and the previous president, Joe Biden – to recognise those who aided US troops and non-governmental organisations before the US-backed government collapsed in 2021 and the Taliban swept back to power.
“We can’t afford to leave these folks behind, right? These folks are in hiding there,” said Shawn VanDiver, a navy veteran and the founder of AfghanEvac, which advocates for the evacuation and resettlement of at-risk Afghans. “There are probably tens of thousands of people whose lives are at risk because of their association with the United States.”
US officials have noted a significant uptick in concern from Afghans waiting for resettlement since Trump was re-elected in November to a second term as president with a stated platform to crack down on immigration, both legal and illegal.
“Failing to protect our Afghan allies sends a dangerous message to the world: that US commitments are conditional and temporary,” AfghanEvac said in a statement following the issuing of the executive order. “This decision undermines global trust in our leadership and jeopardizes future alliances.”
Senior members of the Trump administration, including the incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, have been vocal supporters of the resettlement program. But other Trump aides, including immigration sceptic Stephen Miller, have been vocal opponents of nearly all immigration.
The threat to thousands of Afghans eligible for resettlement under the scheme was first reported by Reuters.
The executive order published by the White House, titled Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program, suspends the admission of refugees to the US under the program as of 27 January and also will prevent the submission of further applications.
In the only exception to the blanket ban, the secretary of state and the secretary of homeland security can decide jointly to allow the admission of refugees on a case-by-case basis.
Most of the Afghan citizens eligible for refugee status had already passed background and security checks and were either scheduled on resettlement flights or in the final stages of the checks including an in-person interview.
VanDiver said that he had spent much of Monday, inauguration day, fielding calls from worried members of the resettlement scheme and had to recharge his phone six times. “People are freaking out,” he said.
Since the Taliban regained power, the US has resettled more than 190,000 Afghans, according to the state department. Afghans who are referred for refugee status often worked for a US-run NGO or were employed with the US military or another part of the US mission in Afghanistan, but not for long enough to qualify for a special immigrant visa.
Those affected by Monday’s order include more than 200 minors who have relatives in the US and are eligible for resettlement under a family reunification scheme.
It does not affect those who qualified for special immigrant visas (SIV) under a separate scheme that applied to those working with the US armed forces for an extended period of time.
Ahead of the decision, VanDiver said his group had lobbied lawmakers and the incoming Trump administration not to include Afghans under the blanket ban on refugees. “President Trump pointed out a bunch of times [that the withdrawal was chaotic], and now it’s up to him to finish the job of getting these folks to safety,” VanDiver said.
