Afghan immigrants and advocates across the United States are pushing back firmly against the Trump administration’s most recent crackdown on legal immigration, saying the American government is punishing hundreds of thousands of people for the alleged actions of one man.
Since the shooting of two national guard soldiers in Washington DC late last month, with the authorities charging an Afghan man as the suspect, the Trump administration has taken harsh action, especially against Afghans in the US, generating a mix of fear, outrage and defiance in the diaspora.
The government has completely frozen asylum decisions at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), paused visa and immigration applications filed by Afghans and, more widely, halted all legal immigration cases for nationals of 19 countries listed on its travel ban, including citizenship ceremonies.
“The attacker hasn’t been put on trial, but the whole Afghan community has been labeled as guilty,” said Yahya Haqiqi, president of the Afghan Support Network in the US, an organization founded shortly after the fall of Kabul to Taliban control in 2021 that has helped thousands of Afghan refugees settle in Oregon.
International Glance
Germany summoned the Russian ambassador on Friday, accusing Moscow of orchestrating a cyberattack on the nation’s air traffic control systems and attempting to meddle in the country’s federal elections earlier this year.
Torrential rain swept across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, flooding hundreds of tents sheltering families displaced by two years of war and leading to the death of a baby girl due to exposure, local health officials said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday hinted at a referendum for Ukrainians to decide whether to cede land to Russia to help end Russia’s invasion.
On Monday, Paramount Skydance launched a $108bn takeover bid for Warner Bros Discovery, the entertainment giant that owns Hollywood movie studios, along with CNN, HBO and other media businesses. The bid is led by David Ellison, son of the tech billionaire Larry Ellison – a prominent Donald Trump supporter and Republican donor.
In Melekino, near Russian-occupied Mariupol, Russian soldiers who refuse to fight (refusniks) have reportedly been held for months in a basement.





























