They helped the US in Afghanistan. Now they’re in immigration limbo
More than 1,100 Afghan nationals are stuck in what could be called immigration limbo in the middle eastern country of Qatar.
Evacuated by the Biden administration as the U.S left Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover, the evacuees say they helped the United States during the Afghan war. They were told they could come to the U.S., but the Trump administration has blocked their entry.
Stopover in Qatar
The Afghans were among thousands airlifted out of the country after the Taliban retook the Afghan government in 2021, 20 years after the war began. They were taken to Camp As Sayliyah, a former military base in Qatar, which serves as a stopover for Afghans awaiting approval of their visa or refugee paperwork before relocating in the U.S.
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The United States reportedly spends $10 million per month to operate Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar.
Many of the evacuees left Camp As Sayliyah and made it successfully to the United States by the end of 2024. However, when President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025, things changed. Relocation flights stopped, and visas have now been denied or are pending.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the State Department says there is currently no viable pathway for them to enter the United States, even though they went through security screenings and background checks for preapproval to enter the U.S.
The administration had set a March 31 deadline to empty out Camp As Sayliyah. But that date has come and gone.
Reaction
Sean Jamshidi lives in Virginia. He came to the United States when he was 4 years old and later joined the Marine Corps. He has family members, including a brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew, stuck at the camp.
“We don’t know what’s going on and they don’t know what’s going on; it’s just chaotic,” he told The Journal. “They keep giving us deadlines and not reaching those deadlines.”
He says the family feels betrayed.
But State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott offered a different explanation.
“The real story here is the Biden Administration’s chaotic and poorly executed withdrawal from Afghanistan, which created a crisis we are still dealing with today, including many who were not properly vetted and were placed on temporary platforms with promises that could not be kept,” Pigott said.
Possible other relocation destinations
Qatar has urged the U.S. to close the camp, which was never intended to be a permanent holding facility. U.S. officials tell The Journal they have tried unsuccessfully to convince Arab countries to take in the Afghan refugees.
The U.S. is now negotiating with two countries in Africa and one in Asia.
Another option is repatriation. The Journal reported that the U.S. is offering each applicant more than $4,000 to go back to Afghanistan. However, they are warned beforehand there is a potential risk of returning to their homeland and the U.S. cannot guarantee their security once they return.
“Many of these individuals are effectively prisoners of bureaucratic incompetence, inaction, and indecision, held in place not by law, but by a system that has failed to move,” Shawn VanDiver, who runs the advocacy group Afghan Evac, told The Journal.
The Afghans’ plight became even more difficult in November when Trump halted all asylum requests after Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal was accused of shooting two National Guard members who were patrolling in Washington D.C. One of the guard members, Sarah Beckstrom, later died on Thanksgiving.
Lakanwal, who entered the U.S. on humanitarian grounds and had applied for a visa, has been indicted on charges of murder and assault with intent to kill and various gun counts.
Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said last November that he had been ordered to perform a full-scale re-examination of every “green card” from a “country of concern.”
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
