Trump to end the protected status for Afghans and Cameroonians

Thousands of Afghans and Cameroonians will end their temporary deportation protection, the US Department of Domestic Security has said.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Call the conditions in Afghanistan and Cameroon no longer found American protection anymore, according to a statement from DHS assistant -Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.

Estimated 14,600 Afghans who were eligible earlier For temporary protected status (TPS) are now set to lose it in May, while some 7,900 Cameroonians Will lose it in June.

It comes on the same day that an American judge ruled that the Trump government was able to deport a graduated university graduate last month due to his role in pro-Palestinian protests.

TPS is granted to nationals of designated countries that are confronted with conditions, such as armed conflict or environmental disasters, making it unsafe to return home.

The status usually lasts a maximum of 18 months, can be extended by the sitting secretary of the Homeland Security and offers deportation protection and access to work permits.

According to McLaughlin, in September 2023, the then Minister of Interior Security Alejandro Mayoras announced that TPS would be extended for Afghans 18 months to 20 May this year.

But on March 21, after he had consulted with US government agencies, Neede Neem noted that Afghanistan will no longer continue to meet the legal requirements for his TPS designation and therefore ended TPS for Afghanistan, “said McLaughlin.

She added that the decision of call was based on a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Evaluation of the circumstances in Afghanistan, where the Taliban looked at the control almost four years ago.

A similar decision that ended the designation of Cameroon for TPS was taken on April 7, said McLaughlin.

Last month the government of Trump said that in the same way it would withdraw the temporary legal status of more than half a million migrants from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua and Venezuela.

They were brought to the US under a sponsor process from the Biden era that is known as CHNV, which Trump suspended after he took office.

More than 120,700 Venezuelans, 110,900 Cubans and more than 93,000 Nicaraguanen were allowed under the program to the US before it was closed.

Those who are told to leave were warned to do this prior to their permits and deportation protection that end later this month, on 24 April, according to a notification from the federal government.

But it is not only people who have granted TPS who have been affected by the changing immigration rules of the US.

Shukriah – not her real name – lives in Washington DC. She arrived in the US in January with her family last year. They had fled Afghanistan and have endured a long journey to the US, in 11 countries, in an attempt to claim asylum.

“The fear of deportation has deeply influenced my mental and physical health. I can hardly sleep, my legs have pain and I constantly cry through fear and fear,” she told the BBC.

Shukriah, who is seven months pregnant, received an e -mail on 10 April – seen by the BBC – from the Department of Homeland Security with the text: “It’s time for you to leave the United States.”

It added: “Unless it goes earlier, your conditional release will end seven days after the date of this notification.

“If you do not immediately leave the United States, you will be subjected to potential actions of law enforcement.”

The website of the Department of Homeland Security has information for Afghan nationals about how they can request extensions to stay in the US now that programs that are previously protected Afghans are changed.

While the young children of Shukriah would all be eligible, the path of her and her husband might be more complicated.

“My conditional release was granted under the humanitarian program and my asylum shop is still being treated,” said Shukriah.

“I don’t know what steps I have to take now, and I am very afraid of what will happen to me and my family.”

Immigration, in particular Massa -Deportation, was an important focus of Trump’s election campaign – and has dominated the policy since he took office.

Earlier this year, data obtained by Reuters showed that in his first month back in office, The US has deported 37,660 people – less than the monthly average of 57,000 removals and returns in the last full year of the BIDEN administration.

The Trump government has withdrawn the visa of hundreds of international students in an attempt to clamp on pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in the US.

Such a case saw an American immigration court rule on Friday that the government of Trump Mahmoud Khalil could deport, a permanent legal American resident, who has been held in a detention center in Louisiana since 8 March.

In a letter written from the facility, he said that his “arrest was a direct consequence” to speak out for Palestinian rights.

Name the decision on social media, said: “It is a privilege to get a visa or green card to live and study” in the US, and that “when you argue for violence, glorify and support terrorists who enjoy the murder of Americans, and Jews harass that privilege must be registered”.

“Good mystery,” she added.

Mr Khalil’s lawyer said that his team would fight for “his client’s right to speak out against what is happening in the US”.