Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the end of the temporary protection status Program (TPS) for Afghan nationals, which will expire on May 20 and be officially lifted on July 12. This basically means that about 9,000 people will be deported from the United States by that date.
Noem said conditions in Afghanistan have improved enough to justify ending the program introduced by the Biden administration.
“This administration is returning TPS to its original temporary intent,” Noem said. “We’ve reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our interagency partners, and they do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation”, Noem said, ““The termination furthers the national interest as DHS records indicate that there are recipients who have been under investigation for fraud and threatening our public safety and national security”.
The TPS program provides temporary legal status and work authorization to citizens from countries affected by armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions. Former President Joe Biden designated Afghanistan for TPS after the Taliban seized power and U.S. forces withdrew from the country in 2021.
However, the Trump administration has considered exempting individuals of the Christian faith from its deportation campaign, a group that in fact, risks persecution if returned to the Taliban-controlled country.
Refugee rights groups have condemned the administration, saying that many individuals protected by the program cooperated with U.S. forces when the latter were in Afghanistan.
“What the administration has done today is betray people who risked their lives for America, built lives here, and believed in our promises,” reported the nonprofit organization #AfghanEvac, which called the Trump administration’s decision ”unacceptable.”
The move is part of a broader immigration crackdown that has dominated the early months of Trump’s second term. During that time, the government also sought to end TPS protections for some 600,000 Venezuelans residing in the United States, yet in the last few days controversy has revolved around Trump’s decision to welcome a group of sixty white individuals fleeing South Africa on the premise of racial persecution, an accusation that has been hotly denied by the South African leadership.
