Advisor to Trump Accused of Halting Afghan Immigration and Refugee Process
The head of an Afghan refugee support organization in the United States, known as Afghan I-O-C, says recent decisions by Donald Trump’s administration have deliberately disrupted the immigration and asylum process for Afghan allies of the US. Sean Wander describes these actions as “horrific, malicious, and cruel,” emphasizing that this situation results from specific political choices.
In a recent session, he stated that the decisions regarding Afghan citizens who have worked alongside American forces are not accidental. According to him, these policies have been designed under the direction of Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff and White House Homeland Security Advisor, and are being implemented with Donald Trump’s direct support.
Wander has accused Miller of persuading the US president to suspend and weaken the immigration process for Afghan citizens, especially those holding special visa cases. He added that this approach calls into question the US’s prior commitments to those who have collaborated with the country in military and civilian missions.
Following Trump’s return to the White House, several executive orders have been issued that have suspended the immigration process for Afghan citizens. In the latest action, Afghanistan, along with dozens of other countries, has been added to a list whose citizens cannot travel to the United States using their national passports.
This directive also includes the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, which was created for the resettlement of former US military collaborators. The suspension of this process has raised widespread concerns among thousands of Afghan applicants who have been waiting for years to move to the US.
