By Chelsea Sobolik
Saturday, July 19, 2025
In May, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status
(TPS) for refugees from Afghanistan, effective July 14. TPS is a temporary
legal immigration status that provides protection from deportation and work
authorization for eligible individuals from designated countries experiencing
crises. Secretary Noem’s justification was “improvements in the security and
economic situation.” She stated that returning to Afghanistan “does not pose a
threat to their personal safety due to ongoing armed conflict or extraordinary
and temporary conditions.”
TPS was always intended to be temporary, as the
name suggests. However, this decision will affect over 11,000 individuals from
Afghanistan who currently live and work in the United States. Country
conditions have not sufficiently improved for the most vulnerable: women,
girls, and persecuted religious minorities.
Offering protections for Afghans gives President Donald
Trump a powerful opportunity to show principled leadership where Biden faltered
as president. The Biden administration’s chaotic and disastrous withdrawal from
Afghanistan in 2021 left tens of thousands of Afghan allies, women, and
persecuted individuals at the mercy of the Taliban. Many Americans — Republican
and Democrat alike — saw this as a betrayal of our promise to them. By stepping
up to protect them now, Trump can position himself not only as a corrector of
Biden’s failure but also as a defender of American honor and global
credibility.
The situation in Afghanistan is dire. Thirty million
people, half the population, rely on humanitarian assistance. Since the
Taliban’s return to power, the economy has been on the verge of collapse.
Additionally, according to the United
Nations, a rapid influx of returnees increases the risk of further internal
displacement. The original rationale for TPS is a complex humanitarian crisis
and ongoing armed conflict in a country. While the latter condition does not
obtain, the former has, if anything, deteriorated. Arguing that TPS should be
removed simply because too much time has passed ignores the plain statutory
requirement: The return must be safe. Right now, it is clearly not.
Returning those in America who have been under TPS to
Afghanistan will exacerbate the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
When the Taliban took control of Kabul in 2021, there was
grave concern that their swift takeover would mean an abysmal future for the
most vulnerable in Afghanistan: women and girls.
At the time, a Taliban spokesperson assured the world
that women would be allowed to continue their education up to the university
level, and that they didn’t “want women to be victims.”
Yet over the past four years, the Taliban have
systematically obliterated the rights of women and girls. At the beginning of
July, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for two Taliban leaders in
Afghanistan, accusing them of persecuting women and girls.
Many Afghan girls and young women had only known a life
free of harsh restrictions until the fall of Kabul. When the U.S. liberated
Afghanistan in 2001, women began to enjoy newfound freedoms. But since the
Taliban takeover, women and girls have been denied the right to most areas of
public life and work.
Women are banned from parks, gyms, university education, and working at nongovernmental groups. Girls are prohibited
from attending school beyond sixth grade.
Women’s basic freedom of movement is severely restricted.
There are limits on their ability to travel long distances without a male
chaperone. There have also been reports of physical violence against women and an increase
in girls being forced to become child brides.
Returning to Afghanistan is not safe for women or girls.
Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous places in the
world to be a Christian. Conversion from Islam to Christianity is
punishable by death under Islamic law. According to Open Doors U.S., apostasy laws have been “increasingly
enforced since the Taliban took control of the country in 2021.” The majority
of Afghan Christians are converts, putting virtually all Christians in
Afghanistan at grave risk. As Open Doors U.S. notes, “Women and ethnic
minorities experience additional oppression. Christians among these groups live
under unthinkable pressure.”
Recently, an Afghan Christian, pastoring a church in
Oklahoma, shared a sobering firsthand account of what will happen if Afghan
Christians are deported back to Afghanistan. He says, “The first thing that will happen is the husbands
will be killed, the wives will be taken as sex slaves. If they don’t kill them,
they’ll put them in prison and beat them every single night.”
In May, a group of prominent faith leaders sent a letter to President Trump and Secretary Noem urging them to
protect Afghan Christians facing the threat of deportation and to sustain the
U.S. refugee resettlement program as a lifeline for those fleeing religious
persecution. This letter was signed by leaders of conservative Christian
organizations, ministries focused on advocating for international religious
freedom, and organizations representing evangelical Christian denominations and
congregations.
The White House has said of Afghan Christians that “Afghans lacking legal
grounds to stay and fearing persecution on protected grounds may apply for
asylum and have the courts adjudicate their case.”
Returning to Afghanistan is not safe for Christians or
religious minorities.
Many Afghans in the United States have the legal right to
apply for asylum, particularly given the well-documented threats to adherents
of minority religions, women, journalists, former U.S. allies, and other
vulnerable populations under the Taliban regime.
Under U.S. law, individuals with pending asylum
applications are generally protected from deportation until their cases are
fully adjudicated. However, in a deeply concerning development, some Afghans, including those who have already initiated
the asylum process, have received formal notices from Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) instructing them to depart the U.S. within just seven days or
face criminal prosecution, fines, or forced deportation. If this means they
must return to Afghanistan, it could mean martyrdom.
This past Monday, an appeals court issued a one-week stay to keep TPS for Afghans in place.
Yet this relief will likely be temporary, and thousands of Afghans will still
face the removal of their TPS soon.
During President Trump’s first term, protecting domestic
and international religious freedom was a policy priority. Consistent with
this, President Trump and his administration should protect Afghan women and
girls, Afghan Christians, and our Afghan allies — all of whom would face
violence, oppression, and possibly death if they returned to Afghanistan.
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