On Monday, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revoked Temporary Protected Status for Afghans in the United States, finding that “requiring the return of Afghan nationals to Afghanistan does not pose a threat to their personal safety...”
That news could have lasting ramifications for the roughly 600 Afghans who call Vermont home. Vermont Afghan Alliance Executive Director Molly Gray calls the termination of Temporary Protected Status unconscionable as she explains the significance of the designation, which follows a slew of protected status revocations under the Trump administration. Gray spoke with WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley:
Temporary Protected Status is really a safeguard against deportation for individuals in the United States from a certain country. The United States government determines that that country, because of natural disaster, conflict or some other extraordinary circumstance, is not safe. It's not a safe place for someone to return to. With Afghanistan, the determination by the US government that it is now a safe place, a place where women can walk around freely, which they cannot, where individuals who work for the U.S. government won't be persecuted, which they will. It's just extremely, extremely misguided. It's not rooted in fact. It's perplexing. Afghanistan is not a safe place. It is a place where people will face persecution full stop.
One of the things that is in the termination on the federal government's website determined that there's been improvements in security and the economic situation, which obviously you disagree with. But the other phrase in this that caught my eye was that she further determined that permitting Afghan nationals to remain temporarily in the U.S. "is contrary to the national interest of the U.S." What do you make of that determination?
It's wild. It's a wild, illogical determination. One, individuals coming to the United States from Afghanistan risked their lives for the U.S. government over a 21-year period. They served as interpreters, prosecutors, lawyers, judges, supported all sorts of U.S. government projects on the rule of law, education, economic development. And these individuals are the most highly vetted because of their association with the U.S. government. I don't know, as a nation of immigrants, a more important effort than to welcome those who are quote, unquote, on Team America, if you will, right to the United States to restart or continue their lives. And to the economic situation, the economic situation is extremely bleak under the Taliban. Plus there's no worse place on the planet for women. Many human rights organizations say women are not allowed to speak in public. They must wear the hijab, and in many cases, they can't show any part of their body. They're not allowed to be out in public on their own without a male escort. Women can't work. Girls can't go to school. I mean, it is an extremely bleak situation in Afghanistan today under the Taliban. So the U.S. government's current analysis is just, it's not based in fact or reality.
Molly, it is called Temporary Protected Status. So how does the program usually end for people that have that designation?
Generally, individuals also apply for another immigration pathway. Asylum for example. And the concern now is that if their asylum is not granted, and we are seeing in some instances asylum claims being canceled including for Afghans, there's now no longer the TPS protection.
Molly, obviously this is a federal policy. But is there any sort of protections that Vermont has that they can extend to the Afghans with Temporary Protected Status in the state?
Federal law is the guiding law on immigration, all immigration matters. So the challenge here is really what can be done to halt the administration in this decision. The Fourth Circuit Court did issue essentially a temporary restraining order for one week halting the administration's effort to remove TPS. So that's helpful and hopeful. We welcome that.
I'm wondering if the Afghan community in Vermont has been preparing for possible revocation of Temporary Protected Status and if they have, how have they been trying to prepare?
This is an incredibly harsh, frankly unfair and truly a betrayal of US commitments. And there have been so many actions over the last several months, from the suspension of the U.S. refugee admissions program, there's the travel ban. Honestly, it's hard to know what this administration will do next. We couldn't imagine that Afghan allies and veterans would come under attack. But now to face potential deportation, it's just perplexing. It doesn't make sense and I worry that no one will want to work with the U.S. government in the future, if this is how they'll be treated.
Vermont Afghan Alliance Executive Director Molly Gray served as Vermont Lieutenant Governor from 2021 to 2023. She also worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross on humanitarian issues in countries including the Balkans and Haiti.
