Sen. Blumenthal Fights to Save U.S. Military Interpreter: “Deporting him to Afghanistan is a death sentence"
Trump told us 90% of Afghan war allies will be "taken care of" but his policies tell a different story.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump told us on July 30 that the vast majority of Afghan war allies resettled in the United States will “be taken care of,” even as his administration dismantles programs designed to protect them and Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains former interpreters facing deportation.
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Asked by Migrant Insider on July 20 what America owes Afghan allies “that kept our veterans safe over there” amid calls to return some to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, Trump replied: “We know the good ones and we know the ones that maybe aren’t so good. Some came over that aren’t so good, and we’re gonna take care of those people, the ones that did a job, the ones that were told of certain things,” while criticizing President Joe Biden for the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. He indicated that about 90% of Afghan allies in the United States would be allowed to remain.
The remarks were met with rare bipartisan agreement on Capitol Hill. “The SIV folks that worked alongside of us, we made a promise to them … that they would have the opportunity to come to the United States,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told us before leaving for the August recess.
“We owe them a lot,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who called efforts to expel Afghans here on humanitarian parole or to slow the Special Immigrant Visa process “a betrayal.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., urged Trump to back his words with action, citing the case of Zia, a 35-year-old Afghan interpreter and father of five arrested by masked ICE agents July 16 in East Hartford, Conn., moments after a routine biometrics appointment for his green card application.
“President Trump: You can prove that your promise means something by giving Zia and those like him the safety and security they deserve,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “Deporting him to Afghanistan is a death sentence.”
Zia worked for years as a translator and cultural adviser for U.S. forces at Camp Mike Spann in Mazar-e-Sharif, according to his attorney. His family fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021, entering the United States in October 2024 with humanitarian parole and approved SIV applications. He has no criminal record.
ICE issued him an expedited removal order, a process that bypasses immigration court hearings, claiming he did not enter legally — a charge his attorney disputes. “He hasn’t done anything to violate the terms of parole,” attorney Lauren Cundick Petersen told the New Haven Independent, which first reported his arrest link here.
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The detention comes as the State Department prepares to shut down the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE), the only U.S. government office dedicated to assisting Afghans left behind after the 2021 withdrawal. CARE’s closure on July 1, unless reversed by Congress, has drawn criticism from veterans’ groups and refugee advocates who warn it will strand thousands of Afghans in danger.
Since returning to office, Trump has halted refugee flights for Afghans, cut SIV program staffing, and overseen State Department layoffs that gutted CARE, according to internal documents and interviews reported by The Washington Post. Administration officials say SIV processing continues, but have acknowledged prioritizing Afghans they deem “deserving” and promoting “remigration” over permanent resettlement.
More than 250,000 Afghans eligible for resettlement remain in limbo worldwide, including thousands in third countries where they face harassment, poverty, and — in some cases — targeted violence. Human rights groups warn that deportations to Afghanistan, already underway from the United Arab Emirates, violate humanitarian law.
Afghans who risked their lives alongside U.S. troops say they fear becoming political casualties. “We have sacrificed our everything,” one Afghan woman told The Washington Post. “People have lost their lives waiting for this process — I have lost my son.”
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This administration has done everything to destroy . THAT IS OURS.