Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined colleagues in the Senate and the House of Representatives pressing for answers from the Trump administration around the decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghan nationals living in the United States who have fled violence and persecution from the Taliban. Many of these TPS recipients served fearlessly with the U.S. during the war in Afghanistan, which makes it especially dangerous for them to return home. The lawmakers urged the Administration to reverse course.
“We write with deep concern about the Department of Homeland Security’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghanistan, which is scheduled to take effect on July 14, 2025. This decision is devastating for resettled Afghan nationals in the United States who have fled widespread violence, economic instability, challenging humanitarian conditions, and human rights abuses in their home country. Many of these Afghans fearlessly served as strong allies to the United States military during the war in Afghanistan, and we cannot blatantly disregard their service,” the lawmakers began.
“We are also deeply concerned about the State Department Human Rights Report finding that widespread arbitrary and unlawful killings against officials associated with the pre-August 2021 government have occurred,” they continued. “Afghan nationals who assisted the U.S. military should not be put in harm’s way because they supported the U.S. in its fight against the Taliban. This would be a betrayal of those who bravely served alongside our servicemembers for nearly two decades.”
“The grave conditions that forced Afghan nationals to flee and seek refuge in the U.S. following the return of the Taliban to power remain. Because of this harsh reality, forcing Afghan nationals in the U.S. to return to Afghanistan would be reckless and inhumane, and would threaten the safety and well-being of thousands of individuals and families, especially women and girls,” they concluded.
The full text of the letter is available here.
The first and only Latina senator, Senator Cortez Masto has consistently supported immigrant communities in Nevada, calling on both administrations to protect TPS holders and other immigrants, as well as leading commonsense legislation to fix our broken immigration system. She has supported bipartisan legislation to strengthen the Afghan Special Immigration Visa (SIV) program to protect the Afghan civilians who risked their lives to support the U.S. mission. She has worked to pass meaningful immigration reform that balances critical border security measures with a path to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS holders, and essential workers.
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