House Republicans have been advocating for Donald Trump to make an exemption to the sweeping executive order pausing refugee admissions — just not the one he made.
On Friday, the president said the United States should prioritize resettling Afrikaners, despite suspending refugee entry programs. For weeks, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have been trying to get the president’s attention on different groups of refugees: Afghan allies.
Lawmakers have raised concerns publicly and privately that hundreds of families connected to U.S. military service members in Afghanistan are currently in dangerous limbo. The president’s Day One executive order effectively paused the “Afghan Allies” program, leaving these families at risk of retribution by the Taliban.
“I seriously doubt you’re gonna get any service member or service organization that’s gonna deny the fact that all those of our Afghan brothers and sisters who served alongside us don’t deserve to be back over here and be safe,” Rep. Morgan Luttrell, a retired Navy SEAL who served in Afghanistan told NOTUS.
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Rep. Michael McCaul said suspending entry for allied Afghan refugees “was an unintended consequence” of Trump’s order “that needs to be fixed” during an interview with “Face the Nation” over the weekend.
“Look, we promised them we would protect them when they worked with our servicemen and women in Afghanistan,” McCaul said.
Rep. Rich McCormick told NOTUS he also wants to see the United States uphold its promise.
“Anybody who fought alongside us. I take that very seriously,” he said. “To fight side by side with us and to not be given what you’re promised is something the Americans should always … we should always fight for what’s right,” McCormick continued. “I hope we’ll continue to do that with these people that are very important to our legacy.”
One Republican lawmaker directly involved in discussions with the Trump administration told NOTUS that he and his colleagues have reached out to the White House to raise the issue of Afghan allies.
They are focused on getting Trump’s attention as well as National Security Council head Mike Waltz, who served with the Army Special Forces. The Republican lawmaker noted that Waltz has a close personal connection to the Afghans who supported the United States; Waltz’s interpreter was killed, the lawmaker said.
But getting the administration’s attention on this issue has been slow, Republican lawmakers told NOTUS.
“You’re talking about the Republicans and Democrats that live underneath the surface, who aren’t overly exposed in the media and social media, trying to actually get something done,” Luttrell said. “Does it have that horsepower that you’re seeing with everything? No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t because the border is such a hard problem to solve and President Trump’s coming in and making his executive orders so now it’s like, ‘Here we go. Game on.’”
Republicans involved in current discussions are looking for an incremental approach, focusing first on the family of U.S. military service members, then restarting Special Immigrant Visa entry, and eventually U.S. Refugee Admissions Program-approved refugees. One of the main issues that planners are working through is how to facilitate the movements of approved Afghans into the United States.
Partner countries in the region have historically helped in what’s commonly called a “lily pad” approach, letting families move out of Afghanistan by themselves or supported by NGOs and private citizens to neighboring countries where waiting for the bureaucratic process to play out is safer.
Special Immigrant Visa and refugee applications used to be processed at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, but now many of those cases have to be processed in Pakistan. Whether that’s biometric scanning or medical support, there’s a substantial need for support to make the process work.
Complicating matters, countries are growing frustrated with the Trump administration’s blanket approach. Pakistan, a country that had been working to support refugees, has threatened to deport Afghans if their cases aren’t processed quickly, the Associated Press reported.
“We don’t have the same abilities at the U.S. embassy that we had previously,” the Republican lawmaker pushing the issue said. “It really makes it difficult.”
Close to 250,000 SIV and U.S. Refugee Admissions Program-approved refugees — both individuals with “compelling protection needs” and the broader group of Afghans approved for immigration — were impacted by the executive order, according to the group Afghan Evac.Shawn VanDiver, the group’s founder, said that his data shows that of that group, 230 families — close to 3,000 individuals — are connected to active duty U.S. military service members.
VanDiver said that of the 250,000 his organization is tracking, more than 50,000 are already vetted and prepared to travel to the United States.
“The number of people who need to come here are a drop in the bucket,” he said, comparing it to the much larger portfolio of legal refugee applicants to come to the U.S. “We need to do it until the job is done,” he said.
Democrats aren’t necessarily holding their breath for a breakthrough, even though they still want to work on the problem with Republicans.
“I’ve had plenty of discussions with Republicans who say they want to do something about it,” Rep. Jason Crow told NOTUS. “They said that they’re privately doing something with the Trump administration. You know, time will tell whether or not those efforts are in vain, or whether or not people need to speak up and be more public about it.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio currently has the power to facilitate these moves, according to the executive order. He, along with the newly confirmed Director of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, are able to approve refugees on a case-by-case basis.
“Not having talked to them, but I think [Pete] Hegseth and Waltz would agree with that, and so would Rubio,” Rep. Jake Ellzey told NOTUS.
“I’m convinced it’s a reset,” he added. “They’re breaking stuff so they can put it back together in the way they want to.”
That process means weeks of waiting under the threat of the Taliban for these already vetted refugees. The executive order outlines a 90-day reporting requirement to Rubio and Noem. Unless there’s a policy adjustment soon, there won’t even be a report on next steps until April 20.
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John T. Seward is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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