Advocates say broad executive orders have hurt Afghans seeking to flee to the US after aiding its military and other groups. When Ruqia Balkhi arrived in the United States in September 2023, she was greeted by a federally funded resettlement agency that helped her launch a new life.
Balkhi, a 55-year-old engineer, was one of the thousands of Afghans who worked alongside the US military during its two-decade-long intervention in her home country. But after the fall of the US-backed government in 2021, it became unsafe for her to stay in Afghanistan under Taliban leadership.
So she left for the US. During her first 90 days in the country, Balkhi received temporary housing, language lessons, basic goods, mental health support, and guidance on enrolling her 15-year-old son in a local school in Virginia.
However, when her husband, Mohammed Aref Mangal, arrived under the same visa program in January, those services had been abruptly halted. President Donald Trump had just been inaugurated, and the US had tightened restrictions on federal funding and immigration.
“It was completely opposite for my husband,” Balkhi said of the circumstances he faced. Advocates say her family’s story illustrates how Trump’s broad executive orders might have repercussions even for areas of bipartisan support.
Veteran organizations have largely supported efforts to bring Afghan citizens to safety in the US, particularly if they worked with US forces or the US-backed government.
But in the first days of Trump’s second term, the government paused the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), leaving some already approved Afghan applicants stranded abroad.
Another executive order halted foreign aid. That, in turn, has caused interruptions to the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program for Afghans who worked with the US military, like Balkhi and her husband. Balkhi explained that her husband was luckier than most, given that he had a family already established in the US. But she expressed anguish for those entering the country without the same support system she received.
“Without help from the resettlement agency, I don’t think we would have been able to survive,” she told Al Jazeera in Dari, speaking through a translator provided by the Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area.
Some critics see the issue as a test of just how durable Trump’s hardline policies will be when their full impact becomes clear.
“My request from the new government is that they not forget their commitments to Afghan allies and Afghan immigrants,” Balkhi said.
Trump’s campaign promises made no secret of his desire to overhaul the US immigration system, to fend off what he decried as a migrant “invasion.” But his criticism of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 had sparked hope among those advocating for services for Afghans involved with the US military.
“President Trump campaigned on a bunch of stuff related to Afghanistan, particularly how bad the withdrawal was,” Shawn VanDiver, the founder of #AfghanEvac, an organization that supports Afghan resettlement.
“So I just don’t believe that he would do that and then not try to help our allies. I’m just hoping this is a mistake.”
In his latest bid for re-election, Trump repeatedly expressed sympathy for those caught up in the August 2021 troop withdrawal, during which a suicide bombing claimed the lives of 13 US service members and 170 Afghans.
Trump also blasted former US President Joe Biden for overseeing the incident, which he called the “Afghanistan calamity.” The day before his inauguration, on January 19, Trump pointedly visited the grave of three soldiers who died during the withdrawal effort.
VanDiver said Trump’s actions from here forward will be critical. If his administration changes course on Afghan resettlement, VanDiver sees that as a hopeful sign.
“But if they don’t change anything, well, then you can be left to conclude that maybe they did mean to do it.”
While Trump’s orders have not directly stopped processing under SIV, they have snarled a pipeline for those seeking relief under the program, which requires federal funding to operate.
Earlier this month, 10 national organizations that rely on federal support to provide “reception and placement services” received an order to stop work immediately — and incur no further costs. The State Department’s freeze on foreign aid has also gutted services for those waiting abroad in places like Qatar and Albania, including medical care, food, and legal support, VanDiver explained.
Most significantly, Trump’s orders have cut funding for relocation flights run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Most SIV recipients relied on that transportation to reach the US.
“The shutdown of these services isn’t just an inconvenience,” VanDiver said, pointing to the delicate living situations of many Afghans seeking safety. “It could be a death sentence for some of the most vulnerable evacuees.”
The SIV program is not the only one hampered by Trump’s new orders, though.
Refugee resettlement has likewise ground to a halt. Under the previous US administration, Afghans facing persecution from the Taliban could apply for relocation under special refugee categories.
The P1 category was reserved for Afghans referred by the US embassy, while P2 was available for those who worked with the US military, US government-affiliated programs, or nonprofits based in the US. A third category also allowed for family unification, for those with relatives already in the US.
Those pathways have all been closed amid the wider suspension of the US refugee program.
Polls have repeatedly shown wide support for resettling Afghans who supported US forces during the war in Afghanistan.
In September 2021, for instance, a poll from NPR and the research firm Ipsos suggested that two-thirds of US respondents backed the relocations, far outpacing support for other groups seeking refuge.
US military veterans have been at the forefront of the relocation effort. That demographic, while diverse, typically skews conservative. About 61 percent supported Trump in the 2024 election, according to the Pew Research Center.
Sullivan explained he has repeatedly engaged with Trump’s administration on the issue, and he left feeling hopeful.
Other advocates, however, are less hopeful. James Powers, a grassroots organizer from Ohio who focuses on veterans’ issues, pointed to immigration hardliner Stephen Miller’s role in the new administration.
Miller had served in Trump’s first administration when SIV processing had slowed to a trickle.
“It only makes sense that [the program] would come to a screeching halt as soon as he got back into power to influence the current president,” Powers said.
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