Washington, D.C.— CWS today expressed grave concern over yesterday’s decision from a court of appeals that allowed the Trump administration to immediately terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of Afghanistan and Cameroon. As a result of the decision, the Trump administration has now ended life-saving legal protections and work authorization for approximately 11,700 Afghans living in the U.S., the majority of whom were evacuated from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover in 2021. The termination comes even as conditions worsen in Afghanistan and the Taliban has escalated targeting of individuals with ties to the U.S. The TPS termination for approximately 5,200 Cameroonians is set to go into effect in less than two weeks on August 4.
“The termination of vital protections for Afghans who have escaped the Taliban and are building lives in the U.S. is a strategic, policy, and moral failure,” said Erol Kekic, Chief Strategy Officer at Church World Service. “This TPS termination is the latest in a series of actions targeting Afghans that together represent an abandonment of our promises to allies who put their lives at risk in support of the U.S. mission. Last week, an Afghan interpreter resettled with CWS support was seized by ICE at a routine immigration appointment. The week before that, the Trump administration laid off every single government employee staffing the bipartisan Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) office amid an ongoing refugee ban. We reject this betrayal and stand with those seeking to build a new life in safety in the United States.”
Afghans with valid grants of humanitarian parole remain protected from deportation and able to access work authorization. The appeals court decision clarified that Afghans subject to the termination remain eligible to pursue claims for asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture (CAT) protections in accordance with U.S. law.
For more information or to speak with Kekic, contact media@cwsglobal.org.