Monday Morning Update -- May 12, 2025
Back with another Monday morning update and we hope that you and yours had a lovely Mother’s Day. I spent a lot of yesterday talking to people who are waiting to be reunited with their mothers and mothers waiting to be reunited with their families. We will not stop pushing until that happens.
This past week, a federal judge in the Pacito vs Trump case ordered the U.S. government to comply with previous court decisions affirming that the Trump Administration must continue to process and provide resettlement support to refugees who were conditionally approved and had travel scheduled before January 20, 2025. In total, about 12,000 individuals fall into this category, and the first compliance deadline is TODAY – May 12th.
According to the order, as of today, the government must:
● Resume refugee case processing at all levels, including at U.S. embassies.
● Lift all admissions suspensions for individuals protected under the injunction.
● Reinstate funding, systems access (e.g., START, FileCloud, IRIS), and RSC agreements.
● Begin facilitating travel for Injunction-Protected Refugees with unexpired medical and security clearances.
● Submit a plan to renew expired clearances.
● Provide case-level updates to plaintiffs.
AfghanEvac has created a timeline to show the full list of compliance requirements – it’s attached to this email and please feel free to share it. We’ve also created a helpful site for those wondering about the vetting for Enduring Welcome travelers.
In another court case (CASA v. Noem), the government committed to not rescinding TPS from Afghans or Cameroonians for at least 60 days following publication of the decision in the federal register. That has not yet occurred. Make no mistake – this is a bandaid, not a cure. But it does represent SOME breathing room for our allies currently
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What we are reading
Judge orders Trump administration to admit roughly 12,000 refugees — AP
Federal judge orders Trump admin to immediately resettle 12K migrants — Fox News
Can’t go forward, can’t go back: Afghan refugees stuck in Qatar wait for a way forward — AP
US to accept white South African refugees while other programs remain paused – AP
Many Afghans living in the U.S. fear being tortured or killed if they get deported — NPR
Exclusive: Trump Admin faces lawsuit over ending TPS for Afghans and Cameroonians — Newsweek
Over 4000 Afghans Deported From Iran, Pakistan Within 24 Hours — Afghanistan International
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.
There remain 1200 refugees trapped in Qatar at CARE Doha.
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 -- UPDATED
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. The report has gone over but we do not know what the recommendations were.
14169 — Foreign Aid pause caused shutdown of Enduring Welcome relocation flights. No indication on when those may restart, if ever. All resettlement contracts canceled but, if the administration adheres to court orders, many of those will have to be reinstated.
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 211,000 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.
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.
Forward this email to people you know need the information. 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.
We will be watching closely this week to see whether the Trump Administration adheres to the court order and resumes processing for those refugees who already had conditional approval. As always, we will keep you updated as developments take place.
Reminder: you can find all of our products, resources, and efforts on the website. Start with afghanevac.org/resources
If you find these valuable, please make a donation to support our work at afghanevac.org/donate
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