By Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered its diplomats worldwide to cease processing visas for Afghan nationals, in line with a State Division cable seen by Reuters, successfully suspending the particular immigration program for Afghans who helped the US throughout its 20-year-long occupation of their residence nation.
The cable, despatched to all U.S. diplomatic posts on Friday, says that efficient instantly, consular officers are instructed to reject any immigrant or non-immigrant visa functions from Afghan nationals together with candidates for Particular Immigrant Visas.
On Wednesday, a former member of one in all Afghanistan’s CIA-backed models was accused of taking pictures two U.S. Nationwide Guard troopers in Washington, D.C. One in all them later died.
The State Division on Saturday referred Reuters to a press release on platform X by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday through which he stated that “ALL people” touring on Afghan passports would have their visa issuance “paused.”
The cable on Friday, which was earlier reported by the New York Instances, stated the transfer to cease processing visas for Afghan nationalswas geared toward “making certain the applicant’s identification and eligibility for a visa beneath U.S. regulation.”
A volunteer group serving to help the US’ Afghan allies stated the cable was a part of an effort by the Trump administration to bar all Afghans from making it to the US.
“There isn’t a doubt that is the end result they’ve been driving towards for months,” Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, stated in an e-mail.
The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Appointments already scheduled for Afghan candidates is not going to be canceled. However once they happen, consular officers ought to refuse to present a visa to candidates, the cable stated. The State Division stated that any approved visas that haven’t been printed but ought to be reversed and canceled, whereas printed visas ought to be destroyed and people instances amended within the system and rejected.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers had already halted processing of Afghan nationals’ immigration requests indefinitely, earlier this week.
About 200,000 Afghans have entered the US by way of 2021 by way of refugee and particular visa applications, VanDiver beforehand advised Reuters. Purposes had been nonetheless being processed for an additional 265,000 Afghans outdoors the US, together with about 180,000 within the Particular Immigrant Visa pipeline for individuals who labored for the U.S. authorities, he stated.
Since returning to workplace in January, Trump has aggressively prioritized immigration enforcement, sending federal brokers to main U.S. cities and turning away asylum seekers on the U.S.-Mexico border. The flurry of promised restrictions because the assault on Wednesday now suggests an elevated focus by his administration on authorized immigration.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Raphael Satter in Washington; Enhancing by Sergio Non and Matthew Lewis)