PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The Trump administration has halted all asylum decisions and paused issuing visas for people traveling on Afghan passports, seizing on the National Guard shooting in the nation’s capital to intensify efforts to rein in legal immigration.
Around 3,800 Afghans have come to Arizona as part of the Arizona Refugee Resettlement Program since the end of the War in Afghanistan in 2021, according to the Arizona Department of Economic Security.
Bill Richardson is a Marine, retired police detective, and was part of a team that rescued dozens of Female Tactical Platoon members from Afghanistan four years ago.
“They believed in America, and they still do. They believed in their mission, and they believed that they were called to serve with Special Forces. And so now there’s a sense of betrayal, because they’ve done everything right,” Bill Richardson said.
All 39 women Richardson helped rescue were granted asylum, and a few were also granted green cards.
“They joined the Army out of an act of patriotism and loyalty to Afghanistan,” he explained.
Trump said the shooting of two National Guard members was a “terrorist attack” and he criticized the Biden administration for enabling entry to the U.S. by Afghans who had worked with American forces. He added the pause on asylum decisions could last a long time.
“We don’t want those people. Does that make sense? You know why we don’t want them? Because many have been no good and they shouldn’t be in our country,” Trump said on Sunday aboard Air Force One while taking questions from reporters.
Sheree Wright, an immigration attorney in Phoenix, said she was shocked by the administration’s decision.
“Individuals apply for asylum to seek protection from their country that they face persecution from,” Wright said.
Richardson said the women he helped rescue are afraid and don’t know what their futures will hold, despite already being granted asylum.
“They’re afraid there’s going to be a knock on the door from ICE to take them into custody and deport them,” said Richardson.
Wright has represented many Afghan clients seeking asylum. Some have waited years to get their applications approved, while others are still waiting decades later.
“If these people that are waiting for their applications to be approved do, for some reason, get sent back, what do you think would happen to them?” asked Arizona’s Family Reporter Zach Prelutsky
“A lot of them will die,” answered Wright.
According to TRAC Reports, a nonpartisan research organization at Syracuse, more than 2.2 million migrants are awaiting an asylum hearing.
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