Afghans living in a U.S.-run refugee camp in Qatar met with U.S. lawmakers over the weekend to talk about what their lives are like after living there for the last year and a half.
The Afghans were brought to Camp As Sayliyah in Doha, Qatar by the U.S. State Department as part of the resettlement process under President Joe Biden.
Afghan relocation halted on President Donald Trump's first day back in office when he ordered all refugee travel suspended.
He later imposed a travel and visa ban on Afghans.
The Afghans at the camp are those who allied with the U.S. during its 20-year occupation of the country and their families. More than 1,100 Afghans have been living there since at least January 2025.
There are more than 400 children among them and 17 pregnant women, according to the nonprofit #AfghanEvac.
The town hall-style meeting was held Saturday over Zoom. Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, led the Congressional delegation that included Rep. Lou Correa, D-Anaheim and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Afghans told lawmakers that people are struggling with mental health and that they're worried about their children.
One Afghan woman who asked KPBS not to use her name said she and her three children have been at the camp for a year and seven months.
"My biggest concern is my children," she told the lawmakers. "They have not been able to go to school for almost two years, and they are (falling) behind in their education."
The camp is set to close at the end of September. The U.S. has considered relocating the refugees to the Democratic Republic of Congo or sending them back to Afghanistan.
Sean Jamshidi was a gunnery sergeant in the Marine Corps. He was born in Afghanistan but raised in the U.S. He has five family members at Camp As Sayliyah.
He told the members of Congress he doesn't know what to say.
"I just tell them (to) be patient," he said. "But enough. It's coming to the point where there's nothing else to tell them about it ... No one's able to do anything other than the president at this point."
A recent State Department report said more than 23,000 Afghans have approved visa applications in process. The same report said no Special Immigrant Visas were issued to Afghans this year.
Blumenthal called the stories shared by Afghan refugees "heartbreaking" and "frankly, repugnant to my sense of justice and fairness."
While refugee resettlement is frozen for the majority of the globe, the Trump administration has made an exception for white South Africans.
This fiscal year, thousands of white South Africans have been granted refugee status in the U.S., and the administration plans to admit thousands more.
The lawmakers told the Afghans they are going to continue to put pressure on Secretary of State Marco Rubio and on other members of Congress.
