White House Reportedly Considers Exempting Afghan Christians From Deportation Push

The Trump administration is mulling over exempting Afghan Christians living as refugees in the U.S. from deportation following pressure from prominent Christian leaders and groups, days after the U.S. ordered an end to temporary protected status for thousands of Afghan refugees, according to reports.

The leaders and nonprofit groups warned the administration that hundreds of Christian Afghan refugees risked facing persecution in Afghanistan that fell under Taliban rule after the Biden administration’s chaotic execution of President Donald Trump’s agreement for U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan, Politico reported Friday. The outlet cited unnamed officials.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked parole for several Afghans April 11 and said they must leave the U.S. in seven days, the outlet reported.

It was not clear how many Afghans received the emailed notice, according to the outlet, although NPR reported that thousands could be affected as over 9,000 Afghans were in the U.S. under the temporary legal status as of September 2024. The parole revocation could affect roughly 300 Christian Afghan refugees, according to the Christian media outlet CBN. (RELATED: ‘Temporary Protected Status Is Never Temporary’: Tom Homan Rips ‘Stupid’ Ruling By District Judge)

Franklin Graham, Evangelical titan and part-time personal pastor to Trump, recently met with the president and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, according to Politico. A coalition of Christian advocacy groups also reportedly urged Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republican lawmakers to temporarily pause the parole revocation for Christian Afghan refugees.

The lobbying reportedly triggered policy discussions within the administration. Although the authorities had not as yet arrived at a final decision, they could be inclined to advise affected individuals to apply for asylum, the outlet reported.

“We recommend that the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the President issue a 90-day pause on the decision to revoke the parole status or provide Temporary Protected Status to hundreds of Afghan Christian refugees seeking asylum legally within the United States of America,” the memo from the coalition partly reads, according to Politico.

An Afghan Christian whom the Taliban had tortured in 2021 but who had rebuilt his life in the U.S. while awaiting a decision on his asylum application could now be deported, the groups reportedly told the authorities.

Twenty-two Afghan members of a North Carolina church also lost their legal status, CBN reported.

Many of the Afghan refugees in the U.S. had worked with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, according to the Christian outlet. The Taliban reportedly killed hundreds of such Afghans still living in Afghanistan and tortured many others.

Various programs under the Biden administration provided temporary legal status to Afghans fleeing conflict, insurgency, and persecution after the U.S. troop pullout. The Trump administration ended the humanitarian protections, according to Politico.

The State Department office coordinating the Afghan resettlement program was told to plan to shutter by April amid the Trump administration’s push for cuts in government staffing and spending, Reuters reported February. Tens of thousands of Afghans who worked with the U.S. military in Afghanistan and families of Afghan-American military personnel were among those who could be affected, according to the outlet.

The Taliban set stringent limits on girl-child education and shut down all beauty salons in Afghanistan, while the terrorist group Al-Qaeda has been revitalized in the country.