Executive action tracker
The executive actions dismantling America's promise
Since January 2025, a series of executive orders, two travel proclamations, and a wave of rule changes have suspended the relocation and resettlement of Afghan allies. This page tracks what each action does, who it hits, and where it stands.
Last updated July 31, 2026
Bottom line up front
A promise suspended by executive action
The tools are different, but the direction is one. Three executive orders signed on the first day froze refugee admissions, cut the funding around the SIV program, and set up a travel ban. Two proclamations followed. The first, in June 2025, kept a narrow SIV exemption. The second, in December 2025, stripped it away and drove visa issuance to Afghan-passport holders to zero. DHS terminated Temporary Protected Status for Afghanistan and began revoking the parole it had granted. And a steady run of rulemaking has narrowed asylum, work authorization, and appeals.
None of it required Congress. All of it can be reversed by the same executive authority that created it. This page is the running record of what has been done, and where each piece stands.
The executive orders
Signed on day one, January 20, 2025
Realigning the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program
Suspends the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in full, halting Afghan arrivals across the P-1, P-2, P-3, and P-4 categories. It froze in place family members of U.S. servicemembers, unaccompanied minors, women leaders, and former Afghan Defense Force members already approved for travel.
Reevaluating and Realigning U.S. Foreign Aid
Freezes foreign aid that funded the machinery around the SIV program. SIV intake, Chief of Mission review, and visa issuance continued on paper, but relocation travel funding and the resettlement support services for recently arrived Afghans were cut.
Protecting the U.S. from Foreign Terrorists and Other Threats
Directs agencies to identify countries with information judged too 'deficient' for adequate vetting, and to recommend suspending admissions from them. It set the predicate for the travel proclamation that followed, and it put even visa-holding Afghans at risk of being barred from entry.
The proclamations
Two travel bans, and a carve-out that disappeared
The travel ban is not one action but two. A June 2025 proclamation kept a narrow exemption for SIV holders. A December 2025 proclamation took it away.
The first travel ban, which kept a narrow SIV carve-out
Building on EO 14161, this proclamation fully suspended entry for nationals of 19 countries, including Afghanistan. It still recognized an exemption for Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders, and it applied only to people outside the United States who did not already hold a valid visa issued before the effective date. Even with that carve-out, it drove Afghan visa issuance sharply down and stranded applicants abroad.
The second travel ban, which stripped the SIV exemption
The December proclamation expanded the restricted lists to 39 countries and kept Afghanistan under full suspension, but it went further than June by removing the broad SIV carve-out. Afghan nationals are now subject to the full suspension unless they already hold a valid visa issued before January 1, 2026. In practice, it took immigrant and non-immigrant visa issuance to Afghan-passport holders to zero. AfghanEvac is asking that the SIV exemption be restored.
Agency and status actions
Protections terminated and rescinded
Temporary Protected Status for Afghanistan, terminated
DHS terminated the TPS designation for Afghanistan, stripping deportation protection and work authorization from up to 14,000 Afghans already living here. Restoring that protection is the aim of the bipartisan Afghanistan TPS Act now in Congress.
Humanitarian parole revoked, with removal notices
Thousands of Afghans paroled in under Operation Allies Welcome received notices to depart, some on as little as seven days' notice, despite pending asylum claims and re-parole requests. It converted a lawful status the U.S. government had granted into a removal risk.
Rescission of the Chamorro Memo
Rescinds the prosecutorial-discretion guidance that had shielded many Afghan allies from enforcement, removing a protection that kept vetted people from being detained or removed while their cases were pending.
The SIV program set on a wind-down path
Even as courts force decisions on long-delayed cases, the administration moved the Special Immigrant Visa program toward wind-down rather than repair, without the numbers or the throughput to clear the people already in the pipeline.
Rules and regulations
The rulemaking that narrows every path
Each of these is its own regulatory action, and each has its own AfghanEvac explainer. Together they make asylum, work, and appeals harder for Afghans already in the system.
Affirmative asylum referrals without an interview
Lets USCIS send affirmative asylum seekers to immigration court without ever conducting the asylum-office interview. Afghans with strong claims and tangled filing histories are the textbook case for who this puts at risk.
Rescission of the 2022 public charge rule
DHS rescinds the 2022 public charge limits and restores broad officer discretion over who is 'likely to become a public charge.' Most Afghan allies stay exempt by law, but the change invites confusion and chilling effects.
Changes to the protections refugees receive on arrival
Alters the protections and support refugees receive when they arrive, weakening the landing that Afghan arrivals depend on.
Work authorization restricted for asylum seekers
A series of proposed and final changes to the Employment Authorization Document process makes it harder and slower for asylum seekers, including Afghans, to get or keep the right to work.
New asylum fees
Imposes new fees across the asylum process, adding cost barriers for people fleeing persecution.
Board of Immigration Appeals rule changes
Narrows immigration appeals through changes at the Board of Immigration Appeals, reducing the paths to challenge a wrong decision.
In the courts
Where this is being challenged
What this means
One promise, suspended piece by piece
Every one of these actions is reversible. None of it was ordered by Congress, and none of it requires Congress to undo. What it needs is the same executive authority that created it, and the political will to use it.
The through-line is simple. The United States recruited, vetted, and promised safety to Afghans who served alongside it. These executive actions did not repeal that promise. They suspended the machinery that keeps it, one order, one proclamation, and one rule at a time. AfghanEvac's role is to keep the record straight and press for each piece to be restored.
AfghanEvac's position
Keeping our promise and protecting the country are the same task, not competing ones. These actions can be reversed today, without new law and without lowering the rigorous vetting Afghan allies already pass. We call on the administration to restore the SIV exemption to the travel proclamation, resume refugee and relocation processing, and stop removing the vetted allies it brought to safety, and we call on Congress to hold it to that promise.
A living record, updated as things change. This tracker reflects executive actions affecting Afghan allies as of July 31, 2026. Court orders and agency decisions can change status quickly. For the underlying documents and the live litigation tracker, see The Ledger. This page is informational and is not legal advice; for an active case, consult a qualified immigration attorney or contact AfghanEvac.