ATLANTA — A new phase in the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is underway.
The Temporary Protected Status for evacuees who escaped Taliban rule expired May 20, 2025.
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) notice said those who have not obtained refugee status or asylum protections must go back to Afghanistan by July 14, 2025, or face deportation.
“I don’t think anybody following what’s happening in Afghanistan can say, with a straight face, that Afghanistan is safe for anyone to return to,” Javeria Jamil told Channel 2’s Courtney Francisco.
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Jamil is the Legal Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Georgia.
She said since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, immigration courts and attorneys have been overloaded with cases, and less than four years is not enough time to process them all.
“It’s not for a lack of trying,” Jamil said.
Dr. Hogai Nassery, MD, helped hundreds resettle in metro Atlanta through the non profit called Afghan-American Alliance. She estimates more than 2,000 people found safety in Georgia after the Taliban took over.
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“We are betraying them,” Nassery said. “They served with our troops, with American troops, and our allies in Afghanistan in very dangerous situations.”
The new DHS notice said their protected status here was designed to be temporary. According to the DHS document, Afghanistan’s economy is stabilizing and security has improved based on armed conflict, humanitarian, kidnapping, and tourism data.
Regardless, attorneys in Atlanta argue, evacuees will return to Taliban rule as traitors.
“The people who had fled to the United States are at risk of being tortured, persecuted, and or killed,” Jamil said.
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