In April, thousands of Afghans residing in the United States received an alarming email from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) instructing them to leave the country.
“You are currently here because the Department of Homeland Security paroled you into the United States for a limited period,” the email warned.
The message indicated that their parole would terminate within seven days, prompting fear and anxiety among recipients.
Z., a nurse’s assistant who fled Afghanistan in 2023, was one of those affected.
Upon seeing the email after finishing her hospital shift, she felt a chilling fear.
“I couldn’t sleep. I was scared. [I thought], what should I do?” she shared with NPR, opting to be identified only by her first initial for fear of repercussions in Afghanistan.
Z. received humanitarian parole upon her arrival in the U.S. and was later granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which permits her to live and work legally in the country as she escaped the deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.
TPS is a safeguard for individuals fleeing natural disasters, armed conflict, or other dangerous situations.
While TPS offers some protection against deportation, it does not provide a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship.
Z.’s perilous journey began when she worked as an emergency room nurse in Afghanistan, where she often collaborated with Médecins Sans Frontières.
Her life took a dangerous turn after her husband developed a drug addiction, leading to her filing for divorce and becoming the sole provider for her two children.
Under the Taliban, the risks she faced intensified, particularly as women’s rights were severely restricted.
A traumatic encounter with Taliban soldiers occurred when they forcibly removed her from a bus and scolded her for not adhering to their strict dress code.
Z. recounted the threats they made, saying, “If you don’t go, we will kill you.”
Afterward, the harassment escalated, dramatically altering her life decisions.
When she sought higher-paying employment in another city, it meant leaving her children with her parents and residing alone—something prohibited for women under the Taliban’s regime.
One night, fearful for her safety as a result of being alone, Z. asked her downstairs neighbor to pose as her husband when men knocked on her door in the early hours of the morning.
The Taliban, however, were not deceived, and when they discovered her living situation, they threatened her safety.
Despite numerous close calls, Z. managed to evade capture, though her family’s warnings about future threats weighed heavily on her.
Eventually, she fled through Iran and secured a visa to Brazil, embarking on a grueling three-month trek through Central America to arrive at the U.S. border, where she successfully claimed asylum.
Today, she works diligently to support her children back home.
The recent DHS emails, while alarming, do not constitute formal legal mandates.
Instead, immigration advocates argue that this communication serves a dual purpose: to inform recipients and to instill fear.
Brian Green, an immigration attorney from Denver, stated, “Every person that leaves the country through fear is accomplishing the administration’s current goal.”
According to Green, the administration is aiming to remove a million individuals within its first year, a costly endeavor.
“Everyone that leaves voluntarily is cheap for the government,” he added, indicating the strategy’s economic motivations.
Moreover, Green points out that the DHS emails legally do not pertain to individuals like Z., whose asylum cases are still ongoing.
He strongly advises anyone who received the email to seek legal representation.
In a concerning development, on May 12, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Afghans, set to take effect on July 14.
Her rationale for the termination was an alleged improvement in security conditions and a stabilizing economy in Afghanistan, prompting the belief that individuals could safely return home.
This claims troubling for advocates like Green, who stress that many Afghans in the U.S. who aided the U.S. military in the past two decades are now targets for the Taliban.
He lamented, “It’s worse for someone who’s been in the United States, who probably has an education, and for Afghan women with work experience… I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes.
And that’s what America is supposed to do: protect people that helped us.”
However, the administration’s assertion that security and economic conditions have improved in Afghanistan is met with skepticism.
The U.S. State Department has consistently advised against travel to the country due to ongoing civil unrest, crime, and the persistent threat of terrorism.
In June, President Donald Trump reinstated a travel ban on 12 countries, labeling them as posing an exceptionally high risk to the U.S., which notably includes Afghanistan.
The rationale behind this ban cites Afghanistan’s lack of a competent authority for issuing passports and insufficient screening measures.
Under this prohibition, certain visas—including Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) for individuals who previously worked for the U.S. government—are exempt.
The strategies employed to terminate humanitarian parole and TPS for Afghan nationals and intensify travel bans are perceived as efforts to reposition Afghans currently within the U.S. and thwart future entries.
Regarding the ending of these protective measures, assistant secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin stated in a message to NPR, “Although TPS was terminated as required by law, any Afghan who fears persecution is able to request asylum.”
McLaughlin recommended that all individuals who have had their TPS or parole revoked should utilize the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) amnesty process to receive aid for voluntary departure back to Afghanistan.
Another asylum seeker, A., echoed similar fears, opting to remain anonymous to avoid jeopardizing his immigration claim.
As an engineer in Kabul who owned a construction business with U.S. government contracts, he felt increasingly threatened once the Taliban regained control.
A. is a father to six children—four of whom are daughters—whom he fears could be targeted for kidnapping or abuse by Taliban forces.
Recollecting his anxiety, he stated, “The Taliban take the girls and the boys for their own pleasure and as a father, I have no say.
For no reason, they can just come and take your kids by force.”
He cannot envision a future for his daughters in Afghanistan, underscoring the desperate situation many face.
The severe curtailment of women’s rights in Afghanistan has transformed the nation into an oppressive environment, according to Abdul Feraji, an investigative journalist from Afghanistan.
Feraji remarked, “Afghanistan right now is kind of a jail for all those people living there.”
He detailed how women lack access to education and personal freedoms, struggling to secure even basic rights and livelihood.
Amid humanitarian crises, basic provisions for families become rare, often translating to a mere diet of bread and tea.
Last year, a U.N. report identified that nearly 23.7 million individuals, more than half of Afghanistan’s population, were in dire need of humanitarian aid.
Significantly, Secretary Marco Rubio had previously terminated nearly all State Department and USAID initiatives in Afghanistan, yielding widespread program shutdowns worth about $1.03 billion, according to reports by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
Feraji challenged the assertion that Afghanistan’s security has improved, noting the considerable presence of terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda and ISIS in the region.
He expressed concern that neglecting TPS and disregarding the actual threats facing Afghan nationals has serious implications, extending beyond Afghanistan’s borders.
“Please, people of the United States, don’t forget 9/11.
It was not just for Afghanistan.
This fight was for freedom.
This fight was for democracy.”
image source from：https://www.npr.org/2025/06/12/nx-s1-5406198/trump-immigration-afghanistan-taliban
