April 21, 2025 -- Afghanevac Monday Morning Update
April 21, 2025
TPS expiration and parole cancellation ruled the airwaves this week, and we did get clarity that OAW arrivals should be exempt but I wouldn't really trust them at their word given how many errors have resulted in permanent harm. There is also some drama bubbling up at State fit for reality TV but the best news is that, at least for now, CARE and Enduring Welcome aren’t included in the draft cuts. Learn more on that below.
If you do one thing after this email, please use our draft letter to email your federal elected officials and ask them to take action.
What happened last week
Afghans who were paroled into the U.S. via OAW have received parole termination notices from the Department of Homeland Security. We are hearing that those notices were sent in error -- only individuals who were paroled in via CBPOne should have received those notifications. We have confirmed that this is accurate and the government said as much in a court filing last week.
Any Afghans who DID receive a parole termination notice should seek representation with a qualified immigration attorney; no one who is currently in court proceedings for an immigration case should NOT self-deport without knowing the details relevant to their own case.
The Trump Administration is allowing Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans to expire. This has not yet been noticed in the Federal Register and it’s unclear if the administration intends to do so.
The Administration, as of right now, seems to intend to use the remaining $600M in the Enduring Welcome budget to close the program down by the end of the fiscal year (Sept 30, 2025), despite the fact that Congress authorized CARE operations through December 2027. Shutting down operations would be a complete betrayal of our wartime allies, veterans, and frontline civilians.
Last week, we talked about how a former FSO wrote a couple of poorly informed opinion pieces. Well, journalist Beth Bailey had myself and the author on to her podcast "The Afghanistan Project" to discuss our respective positions. It's worth a listenx if you want to understand what those who oppose our work are (wrongly) saying.
Lots of action in the courts in Pacito vs Trump and in Doe vs Noem. The administration continues to ignore judges orders directing them to restart refugee processing and more.
What to look for this week
Look for Members of Congress to push back on the closure of the Enduring Welcome program, which they authorized in the NDAA which passed in December 2024.
April 20th is the deadline for the report related to USRAP Executive Order (EO14163) to be sent to the White House from Secretaries Rubio and Noem. The outcome of this report will determine whether the USRAP remains suspended for another ninety days.
The New York Times is reporting a draft Executive Order that was circulating at State BUT Secretary Rubio is saying it’s fake news. We understand this to be a relic of the real housewives of HST drama that was going on between Secretary Rubio and Pete Marocco (until Marocco departed from his post at State). In any event, this draft document does NOT have CARE or Enduring Welcome being eliminated. That’s some hope but we will wait to see what the finalized Executive Order says before we celebrate.
What we’re reading
Children go hungry in Afghanistan after Trump cuts to USAID – DW
Trump Administration orders some Afghan refugees to leave U.S. within a week -- Amu TV
Pakistan's Deputy PM to visit Kabul amid ongoing expulsion of Afghans -- Washington Post
Trump Administration ending temporary protected status for Afghans living in U.S. -- NPR
Russia’s Supreme Court Suspends Ban on Afghanistan’s Taliban – Al Jazeera
Enduring Welcome Policy update -- NO CHANGE FROM LAST UPDATE
Enduring Welcome relocation flights remain paused
Refugee processing and travel remains paused
SIVs can still self-fund or be sponsored through private orgs, but there remains no government support for their relocation or funding for resettlement upon arrival.
CARE Doha is now open for self-funded travel now that Eid has passed.
CARE Albania has no more flight-ready eligible travelers, and CARE Doha has very few remaining. That’s thanks to the incredible efforts of the CARE staff and Afghan Allies Safe Arrival team (AfghanEvac, Task Force Argo, Community Sponsorship Hub), Keeping Our Promise, No One Left Behind, and others—who stepped up to help hundreds get to safety.
If you know someone with a valid U.S. visa, IN AFGHANISTAN OR ANY THIRD COUNTRY, they can register for support at afghanevac.org/self-depart. This form also works for folks who arrived to the U.S. on their own but did not set up sponsorship before arrival and now need assistance to get settled.
Executive Orders -- NO CHANGE FROM LAST UPDATE
14161 — Still awaiting the report from State Dept to be sent to the White House
14163 — All refugee processing paused. April 20th was the deadline for report to White House from DHS, in consultation with State Dept, and we aren’t sure if it’s gone yet.
14169 — Foreign Aid pause caused shutdown of Enduring Welcome relocation flights. No indication on when those may restart, if ever.
By the numbers
The numbers below have been verified by us and are based on official U.S. government numbers. If you are seeing other numbers elsewhere, they are dated and incorrect.
CARE Pipeline (Refugees and SIVs)
Over 200,000 Afghans identified in the CARE pipeline in Afghanistan
Of this number, about 50,000 are in the USRAP category, the rest are consular track (SIV/IV/etc)
Over 50,000 Afghans outside of Afghanistan in the CARE pipeline
Of this number, about 25,000 are in the USRAP category, the rest are consular track (SIV/IV/etc)
More than 50,000 Afghans in Afghanistan are far enough along in vetting to be manifested or in the process of manifesting
3,000 individuals are family of active duty U.S. military, trapped because they are in the USRAP pipeline. 200 of those are in Qatar, trapped on the U.S. Government facility with no pathway to safety.
More than 200 American Citizens are still in Afghanistan, most of whom are waiting with family members in the relocation process.
Total SIV pipeline numbers
About 156,000 Afghans with Chief of Mission (COM) approval
Nearly 30,000 Principal Applicants
About 126,000 family members (called derivatives)
118,000 of those with Chief of Mission Approval are "Interview Ready"
About 50,000 Applicants are at the Chief of Mission stage for approval.
There are 1,000 Chief of Mission decisions happening every week, with about 30% of those decisions being approvals.
There are about 10,000 principal applicant visas remaining before we reach the congressionally mandated cap.
We need somewhere between 40-50k more to meet the demand.
What you can do to help
Send a letter to your Member of Congress asking them to push back on the Trump Administration's potential decision to shut down Enduring Welcome operations.
If you are a veteran — sign onto our Open Letter. Please pass this around your networks and ask for folks to sign on. We already have about 400 signatures, 49% of which are Republicans or Independents and 51% are Democrats
Record a short video with your name, your political affiliation or how you lean (conservative or liberal), what this means to you, and why you appreciate that this has been a bipartisan effort. Send that video (the file) to contact@afghanevac.org and we'll post it on our socials!
Donate to AfghanEvac. Ongoing advocacy and information sharing is more critical now than ever. Thank you to everyone who has already given. If you haven’t, or if you’re moved to contribute more, please visit afghanevac.org/donate or contact us to plan an event in your area.
Call and email your elected officials and ask them to take action - use that link to look up who your reps are and use this one to look at our draft letter to them. Visit our website and share with your state and local representatives our draft resolution.
If you know people who want to get this email but are currently not, send them to afghanevac.org/engage and we'll get them signed up.
Every week, the pace of this information seems to increase -- I hope these updates are helpful in aiding you all to keep track of what's going on. As always, please pass this information on to anyone who you think would benefit from it. Thanks again and I hope to talk to you soon.