Mohammad Rahimi said he was excited to hear President Donald Trump say he supported honoring promises made to Afghans working with U.S. forces during the 20-year occupation of Afghanistan.
Rahimi worked as an attorney in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army and later served in the Afghan government.
"I was excited to hear that from President Trump," said Rahimi, who immigrated to El Cajon more than 10 years ago, and is now a U.S. citizen. "But lack of action is a big disappointment."
Rahimi runs Afghan Family Services, a nonprofit that works with the Afghan American community. He said he's frustrated by the Trump administration's changes to Afghan resettlement policy.
"It doesn't make sense — I mean, we hear one thing from the president, but we see something different, actually, in everyday life," Rahimi said. "If President Trump really means that he wants to support these Afghan allies, then why we don't see it right now?"
Rahimi is referencing a series of policy decisions that began on Jan. 20 — Trump's first day back in office.
That's when Trump suspended all refugee resettlement and travel via an executive order.
A senior administration official told KPBS Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans are still being processed with hundreds of decisions per week.
“President Trump has a humanitarian heart, and the Trump administration remains committed to protecting those who supported our mission, while ensuring rigorous security standards," the officials said in an email. "These measures make certain that refuge is provided only to those credibly at risk while maintaining broader U.S. national security priorities."
Shawn VanDiver, co-founder and CEO of nonprofit #AfghanEvac, said the administration sees Afghanistan as a "political problem."
"They want to wipe their hands of it," VanDiver said in a July interview. "Think about what they've done since January 20."
The January suspension of refugee resettlement was followed by a travel and VISA ban that included Afghanistan and the end of Temporary Protected Status for Afghans. Last month the U.S. State Department closed the office of the Coordinator for Afghanistan Relocation Efforts — or CARE — and its staff were reportedly among the 1,300 department workers laid off July 11.
Jessica Bradley Rushing was a deputy director in the CARE office.
"It's a gut-punch," she said. "CARE ... was such a unique place because it was an operation — it wasn't just a policy desk that talked about theory. We were physically engaged in relocating folks and changing their lives."
CARE played a key role in Operation Enduring Welcome — the Afghan relocation program established under the Biden administration. It's ending in September.
A State Department spokesperson told KPBS that the department was reorganizing to be "more efficient" and focused on an "America First" foreign policy. Part of this was moving the functions of the CARE office to the Office of Afghanistan Affairs.
KPBS requested interviews with the assistant secretary of that office and the senior official in the Refugee and Migration Bureau. Both requests were denied.
Rahimi said arrests of Afghan refugees at routine immigration appointments — one at immigration court in San Diego — have Afghans across the country afraid and feeling targeted.
"On a daily basis I have conversations with many Afghan members," Rahimi said. "They are asking me ... how can they go to their appointments, finish the appointment and leave the courthouse safely without being detained? We have no answer."
One answer came last week in San Diego when more than a dozen veterans accompanied a former Afghan journalist to a hearing in immigration court.
Marine Corps veteran Jonathan Liu served with Afghans as a fire support officer during the war. He said last week was a continuation of that service.
"These were people who fought for us — they put their lives on the line," he said. "We shouldn't be turning our backs on them."
Photos from the courthouse showed masked immigration agents lingering in the hallway outside the courtroom but the Afghan journalist left his hearing without incident.
