Afghan War Allies Sue State Department Over Visa Denials
IRAP accuses Trump administration of illegally blocking America’s former guards from refuge.
WASHINGTON — Three Afghan nationals who risked their lives guarding U.S. military bases have filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department, accusing it of illegally blocking their access to the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program — the lifeline Congress created for America’s wartime allies.
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Filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the case Yasini Doe et al. v. Department of State alleges that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s department has imposed an “unlawful restriction” that excludes former employees of the Afghan National Public Protection Force (NPPF), a U.S.-contracted security arm of the Afghan government, from eligibility.
The plaintiffs — known in court documents as Yasini, Jawad, and Reza Doe for their safety — are represented by the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). All three remain in hiding from the Taliban, who have killed or imprisoned other former NPPF employees since the U.S. withdrawal.
“The SIV program was created by Congress to protect Afghan allies from harm, but the State Department has devised an unlawful requirement to deny that chance to at least dozens of Afghans whose lives are at risk as a result of their service,” said IRAP Senior Staff Attorney Mevlüde Akay Alp. “Without this lifeline, these plaintiffs and their families are stuck in hiding with no viable pathway to safety.”
At issue is a State Department policy quietly adopted in 2023 that automatically denies visa eligibility to Afghans who worked for “state-owned” Afghan entities — even when those entities were U.S. military subcontractors like NPPF. The lawsuit calls the policy a violation of the Afghan Allies Protection Act, which defines qualifying service as work “by or on behalf of the United States government,” without limiting the type of employer.
The complaint details how each plaintiff submitted documentation verifying their employment guarding U.S. bases and warehouses under contracts with the Defense Department, only to receive form letters declaring their work “not qualifying employment.” One of them, Jawad Doe, said in a declaration that the Taliban “will find me and kill me” if they discover he worked for NPPF at Bagram Air Base.
The suit also accuses the State Department of ignoring its own Foreign Affairs Manual, which recognizes employment for Afghan government entities as qualifying so long as the work was done under a U.S. contract.
IRAP says at least dozens of NPPF veterans have received the same denials — a figure likely to grow as the Trump administration dismantles remaining Afghan resettlement programs. Since returning to office, the administration has terminated Temporary Protected Status for Afghans, suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and defunded the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, according to internal policy summaries.
Together, advocates warn, those actions have left tens of thousands of America’s former Afghan allies stranded or in danger.
“The United States made a promise to protect those who stood with us,” Akay Alp said. “Breaking that promise now — while these men are hunted — isn’t just unlawful, it’s immoral.”
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