Sixty-one members of the US Congress have criticised the Trump administration’s actions against Afghan migrants, saying the government is exploiting a recent attack to impose collective punishment on Afghans.
In a letter addressed to the US secretaries of state and homeland security, the lawmakers said the administration had used a shooting by a former Afghan soldier against National Guard personnel to justify sweeping measures targeting Afghan migrants and asylum-seekers.
The lawmakers said policies such as refusing entry to Afghan migrants and denying asylum to former US military partners in Afghanistan were a mistake and risked portraying the United States as an unreliable ally.
“Exploiting this tragedy to sow division and inflame fear will not make America safer,” Democratic members of Congress wrote in the letter.
They said that following the shooting involving National Guard troops in Washington, the Trump administration not only halted the processing of Afghan asylum cases but also began re-examining cases of Afghans who had already been admitted to the United States.
According to the lawmakers, the administration has also barred the entry of Afghans holding Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) who worked with the US government and military in Afghanistan, removing them from exemptions to the president’s travel ban.
The Trump administration recently placed Afghanistan and 14 other countries on a full travel ban list, effectively preventing their citizens from travelling to the United States or applying for asylum. Under President Donald Trump’s latest order, SIV holders were no longer exempt from the ban.
Members of Congress described the policy as a form of collective punishment against Afghan migrants and citizens. They warned that the measures endanger the lives of innocent, law-abiding people, including those who assisted US forces during the war in Afghanistan.
“The horrific actions of one individual should not be used to vilify every individual from Afghanistan who legally seeks to live in the United States,” the lawmakers wrote.
The administration’s actions have heightened fear among Afghan migrants already living in the United States. Immigration lawyers and refugee advocates in the Sacramento area of California, home to the largest Afghan immigrant population, have reported an increase in detentions of Afghans by immigration authorities and the cancellation of asylum-related interviews.
The Associated Press reported that since November 26, at least 24 Afghan migrants mostly in Northern California have been detained. In the past week alone, at least nine Afghan men were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement when they appeared for routine case status checks.
