WASHINGTON (AN) — The Trump administration’s order to conduct a comprehensive review and re-interview of over 200,000 resettled refugees faces widespread condemnation from numerous international and U.S.-based humanitarian and human rights organizations.
The number of organizations decrying the policy as cruel, wasteful, and a profound betrayal of international humanitarian values escalated even before the Trump administration announced it stopped processing immigration applications from Afghanistan in response to the shooting of two National Guard troops near the White House.
At a news conference on Thursday, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, and said he drove across the country from Washington state to launch an "ambush-style" attack with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver.
Lakanwal, who was living in Bellingham with his wife and five children, faces charges of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Pirro identified the injured troops as Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24.
The incident inflames tensions over the presence of troops that U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered in the nation's capital and other cities around the nation. Lakanwal, an Afghan national, was evacuated to the U.S. after working with CIA-supported military units in Afghanistan, including a unit fighting the Taliban stronghold in Kandahar, officials said.
The gunman opened fire and left Beckstrom and Wolfe, both National Guard members from West Virginia, in critical condition as part of what officials described as a "targeted shooting" near the White House.
The evacuation program was set up after American forces withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021 and the Taliban took over in the wake of the two-decade-long U.S. war in Afghanistan. Last week, Trump's administration ordered a broad review of all refugees who entered under the prior administration of President Joe Biden.
Trump, in an address from Palm Beach, Fla., on Wednesday night, called the shooting "a crime against our entire nation" and "an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror."
Trump said the shooting exposes "the single greatest national security threat facing our nation" and shows why his administration believes it "must now reexamine every single alien from Afghanistan who has entered our country under Biden and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country."
The review formalized by a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memo mandates re-vetting of about 233,000 refugees admitted between Jan. 20, 2021, and Feb. 20, 2025, and includes an immediate halt to the processing of all "green card" applications for permanent residence for refugees who entered under Biden.
That includes refugees from dozens of nations, not just Afghanistan, who were resettled through the formal U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. While the review is wide-ranging, Afghan refugees do not represent a majority segment, with only about 23,000 included in the total cohort.
Other significant populations are the more than 50,000 Congolese refugees fleeing the M23 conflict, at least 24,000 Venezuelans escaping violence and worsening displacement, some 18,000 Rohingya running from genocide in Myanmar and over 5,000 Ukrainians suffering from the Russian invasion.
Undermining legal obligations
Refugees International labeled the plan as "vindictive, harmful, and wasteful," and warned the policy undermines faith in the legal immigration system. "This is part of the Trump administration’s unprecedented delegalization of people who arrived on humanitarian pathways and erodes the U.S. as a nation of refuge," it said.
Other organizations focused their criticism on the psychological damage and the immense administrative burden the policy imposes. The International Rescue Committee said the action would "needlessly retraumatize refugees who have survived unimaginable horrors."
Similarly, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants warned that "imposing broad, duplicative reinterviews would retraumatize individuals and families." Church World Service expressed deep alarm at the plan, calling it "immoral, cruel, and a massive waste of USCIS resources."
The sentiment was echoed by World Relief, which condemned the plan as a "needless and reprehensible relitigation of recently resettled refugees."
Several groups focused on the legal and systemic harm. Global Refuge highlighted concerns that the review introduces "profound uncertainty into the lives of families who have endured and legally demonstrated a well-founded fear of persecution."
Refugee Council USA strongly condemned the sweeping review, asserting it violates U.S. obligations and severely undermines trust in the refugee admissions process. International Refugee Assistance Project bluntly called the order a "shameful move to bully the most vulnerable."
While a specific statement by the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, on the USCIS memo has not been released, the organization has previously warned against any attempts to diminish nations' obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and global asylum rights.
"Faced with overwhelmed asylum systems, as well as intense domestic pressures, countries routinely resort to measures aimed first and foremost at stopping these flows," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told UNHCR's Executive Committee last month.
"In an environment where everything is highly politicized, putting the Refugee Convention and the principle of asylum on the table would be a catastrophic error," he said. "It would lead us down blind alleys and, ultimately, it would make the problem more difficult to address. Beware, please, the easy fix!"
