Monday Morning Update -- April 28, 2025
Lots of news from last week and a few big things happening this week.
If you’re going to do one thing: visit afghanevac.org/eo-crisis and bookmark it. We’re trying to keep that as updated as possible but it’s a pretty good rundown on the various threats to Enduring Welcome.
What happened last week
We sent a letter to Secretaries Rubio, Noem, and Hegseth, along with National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, asking for clarity about their plans for Enduring Welcome and our wartime allies. I’ve attached that letter here.
State Department announced a massive reorganization but CARE’s fate remains unclear. The org chart released did not go down to the level at which CARE sits and they have not yet received clarity on their future.
The report related to USRAP Executive Order (EO14163) has been 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. We do not know what the report says. If you see it, please share.
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. We have asked for clarity about this in the letter above as well.
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. You can always visit IRAP’s website for the latest and greatest updates.
What to look for this week
We’ve recently learned that one of the folks that investigated the withdrawal on the House Foreign Affairs Committee staff, Mary Bischoping, has recently been tapped to serve as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Afghanistan. We hope that’s a good sign for our allies and have reached out to her to engage on the issues. We also hope this means that, at least on matters related to Afghanistan, State Department employees will be once again permitted to respond to Congressional inquiries. Whomever was blocking that will hopefully be held to account.
What we’re reading
Washington’s Broken Promises Leave Afghan Allies in Limbo – Reason
Trump administration ending temporary protected status for Afghans living in U.S. – NPR
Religious groups ask Trump Administration not to deport Afghan Christians — World News Group
‘We’re Breaking Our Promises’: Afghans Who Helped US at Risk of Deportation as Trump Ends Protections – Military.Com
White House Reportedly Considers Exempting Afghan Christians From Deportation Push – The Daily Caller
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 - Updated
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 210,000 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 55,000 Afghans in Afghanistan are far enough along in vetting to be manifested or in the process of manifesting
There are 12,000 individuals in the “family reunification” category in Afghanistan alone, awaiting reunification with loved ones here in the US
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. There are about 1,000 other refugees also stuck in Doha.
About 200 American Citizens are still in Afghanistan, most of whom are waiting with family members in the relocation process.
Total SIV pipeline numbers
About 163,000 Afghans with Chief of Mission (COM) approval
Over 31,000 Principal Applicants
About 132,000 family members (called derivatives)
125,000 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 less than 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.
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