This article was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, of which Loan Huynh is an active member.
On May 12, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghanistan. The TPS designation for the country expires on May 20, 2025, and the termination will take effect July 14, 2025. The decision affects an estimated 9,000 Afghans in the United States.
Afghanistan was initially designated for TPS on May 20, 2022, based on ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions. On September 25, 2023, DHS extended and newly designated Afghanistan for a period of 18 months, beginning November 21, 2023, and ending May 20, 2025. The new DHS statement said that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem “determined that, overall, there are notable improvements in the security and economic situation such that requiring the return of Afghan nationals to Afghanistan does not pose a threat to their personal safety due to ongoing-armed conflict or extraordinary and temporary conditions. She further determined that permitting Afghan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to the national interest of the United States.”
In April, Christian leaders and nonprofits reportedly lobbied the Trump administration to carve out an exception for Afghan Christians who they warned may face persecution if returned to the Taliban-controlled country. The administration has been silent on any policy on that front, but in response to questions about what those fearing death or torture if returned to Afghanistan should do, Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary, said, “If there are individuals here who came in through the Biden administration who want to claim asylum, there is a legal process to do that, and those cases will be adjudicated by a judge on a case-by-case basis.”
