The Trump Administration has abruptly halted services for refugees in the United States, including Afghans, according to a memo obtained by CNN. The memo bars refugee resettlement agencies from providing critical support, including caseworker support, housing, and other services, to those who have arrived in the US in the past three months.
The move is expected to affect tens of thousands of refugees, including Afghans who aided the US during the war, and has caused a scramble among advocates to interpret the order. “We’ll have refugees going homeless,” said a refugee advocate. “It’s completely unprecedented. Nothing like this has ever happened.”
The halt is a result of President Trump’s executive order to suspend refugee admissions on the basis of public safety and national security. The memo requires resettlement agencies to end all work under federal funding and not incur any new costs.
The memo has sparked concerns among advocates, who worry that refugees will be left without essential support. “The goal is self-sufficiency, you’re diminishing peoples’ access to services that help them become self-sufficient,” said an immigration attorney.
The sudden halt has also raised questions about what avenues of support remain available to refugees. “You’ve arrived here a week ago, under the wire, you know your case manager for three days. And now you’re not allowed to call them to get support from them,” said a source.
The decision comes as a blow to the refugee admissions program, with some 10,000 refugees who had booked flights having them canceled. The move has also left many Afghans, who were expected to receive special treatment, in limbo.
“It’s unclear what avenues of support they have,” said Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac and a Navy veteran. “We understand the need to reevaluate and realign priorities, but Afghan programs must be exempted to prevent a humanitarian crisis. This is a fixable issue, and we stand ready to work with the administration to get it right.”