’Hearing news like this makes it heartbreaking for a family that has been waiting this long’. Batool’s 9-year-old sister no longer draws pictures of a united family. That’s because her older sisters are in the U.S. while she remains in Afghanistan, hiding with her parents and two brothers.
![[Taliban security guard Kabul, Afghanistan in December 2024]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/29/15/newFile.jpg)
It’s been nearly a decade since the family has been together. Batool, who lives in the U.S., and her little sister thousands of miles away are just some of the several thousand people impacted by President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending the admission of refugees into the U.S.
![[Afghan refugees walk after their deportation from Iran, at a registration center near the Afghanistan-Iran border in the Islam Qala district of Herat province]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/22/15/GettyImages-2173506138.jpg)
On Monday, Trump signed the order titled “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program,” effectively shutting down refugee resettlement immediately. It’s unknown how long the order will be in effect, but it vaguely states the policy will remain until further entry into the United States aligns with the interests of the country. The order also impacts the relatives of American service members.
Refugees who were scheduled to travel to the U.S. are from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Egypt, Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries. The new policy does not apply to those who hold Special Immigrant Visas. Batool thought things would have been easier for her family. Her father supported the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and a sister joined the U.S. military after graduating from university. They were told the American government would take care of them after the country’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
