Trump orders review of all Biden-era refugee cases

This report is extremely shocking and upsetting. Today, Reuters reported that, according to a memo seen by the news agency, the Trump administration has instructed the U.S. Immigration Department to review all cases of immigrants who were accepted and entered the United States during the Biden administration. This order could apply to 233,000 immigrants who entered the U.S. between January 2021 and February 2025.

This is horrible news, as the Trump administration has already reduced the refugee admission cap. For example, in 2026, the admission cap is 7,500 people, allocated only to white South Africans.

During two years of field research in Washington, D.C., I met with newly arrived Hazara refugees who told me that they had spent between 2 to 7 years for their cases to be reviewed or processed. Most of these reviews are multi-layered. For instance, refugees from Turkey were first vetted by the Turkish government and NGOs. In the second stage, their cases were referred to the UNHCR, and in the final stage, to the U.S. Embassy, which passed them on to be vetted by U.S. security agencies such as USCIS and Homeland Security. 

This means the refugees have already undergone multiple instances of scrutiny and review beyond what is expected. It's unclear what this anti-refugee program is trying to find or what loophole it is trying to uncover that hasn't been seen before.

Now it has become clear that the reason why some refugees and immigrants who have been waiting for nearly four years to receive their Green Card and still haven't gotten it is due to the anti-refugee scheme that the current administration plans to implement.

This will further add to the sorrow and pain of refugees who have already endured. I can't help thinking of the intense psychological and emotional toll it would cause to thousands of families who have barely settled and have started their lives, hoping to enjoy a modicum of peace. What a cruel world we are living in. 

A perpetual fear and life for Hazaras under the Taliban

by Khadim Ali, a Hazara painter, source

For the Hazara people in Afghanistan, life has always been shadowed by a deep-seated dread. To be Hazara in this country is to live with a perpetual, gnawing anxiety, a kind of fear that has taken up residence in the back of your mind and never leaves. No matter the depth of your sacrifice or your willingness to lay down your life for your country, a persistent, haunting fear lingers on the horizon, tormenting your spirit constantly. That fear is a simple, devastating question: "Will the Pashtuns ever allow us to live in peace?" 

This is an existential fear, it strikes at the very core of one's right to exist.

This terror is now manifesting anew in the forced exodus of Hazaras from their ancestral lands, which has been going on since the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. Since then, over 1,000 families have been evicted from their homes and villages. If we estimate an average family of 6, then 6,000 people have been forced out of their homes. That is still a conservative estimate. 

Recently, the Taliban issued a new ultimatum, this time to the Hazara community of Nowabad, a small yet densely populated area in Ghazni, home to over 18,000 families. The ultimatum says they must either abandon their homes, repurchase their homes, or pay rent to remain in their homes. 

The Taliban have declared the area "Emirate's land," a tactic they replicate wherever Hazaras live and wherever and whenever they want to forcefully remove them. It is a profound act of symbolic violence, in that they basically erase Hazaras' historical and cultural connection to the land, their own land. What anthropologists term as territorial alienation is a precursor to physical annihilation. This is ethno fascism in practice, and for the Hazaras, it always comes down to a choice between three impossible options, a tripartite trap from which they have never escaped.

This pattern is grimly familiar. In 1998, when the Taliban seized Mazar and launched their massacre of the Hazaras, they presented three conditions: leave Afghanistan, convert to Sunni Islam, or be ready to die. They proceeded to carry out both mass slaughter and forced displacement. It appears that the same engine of tribal fascism is now rolling forward once again, following its old, brutal tracks.

For the Hazaras, who were still savoring the sweet victory of the Afghanistani futsal team, mostly made up of Hazara boys, this new threat is a bitter drop in the cup of their joy. It feels like a sudden, cold wave, or a physical blow to the gut that instantly extinguishes any celebration, replacing it with the familiar grip of fear and pain. This is the precarious reality in which the Hazara people now find themselves.

For the Hazara, true peace remains an elusive dream in their own land.

Note: A version of this post was published in Farsi on my Farsi blog

Hazara's resistance: Playing for a country that tries to annihilate them

Amid Afghanistan's contemporary violent history, a different story is capturing hearts and minds, one not of conflict but of celebration. The Afghanistani U-17 boys' futsal team has won the championship of the 3rd Asian Youth Games in Bahrain.

This victory holds profound significance for Afghanistan, which is weary of violence. In a country deeply divided and ruled by the ethno-religious Taliban regime, such a moment fosters a rare and powerful sense of shared identity and national pride.

The achievement is particularly meaningful because the team is predominantly composed of Hazara athletes, an ethnic minority that has long faced systemic persecution and is currently experiencing an ongoing genocide under the de facto Taliban rule. One might assume that their success on an international stage indicates a degree of freedom and acceptance. But the reality is more complex.

First, some of these players are refugees living in Iran; some may have never set foot in Afghanistan. So, in some way, it is a diasporic achievement. Futsal is a popular sport within the Hazara diaspora in Iran. In post-9/11 Afghanistan, upon their return from Iran, refugees brought their skills with them. For international competitions, players are often selected from refugee communities, sent to Afghanistan for bureaucratic formalities, and then dispatched to the competition. But in U-17, I heard from a friend that several team members were chosen from the poor neighborhood of Dasht-e Barchi, west of Kabul. In essence, the national futsal team relies on Hazara players; excluding them would mean having no team at all.

This triumph is now shadowed by a grave concern: Hazara advocates worldwide fear the Iranian government may retaliate by deporting the players and their families. Iran has already forcibly returned over 1.5 million refugees, predominantly Hazaras, to Afghanistan this year. These deportations have been justified by baseless accusations of espionage for Israel, a scapegoat narrative Iran employs following its military embarrassments in 12 days of war with Israel.

Furthermore, this victory is a crucial act of visibility for the Hazara people, who are otherwise entirely marginalized within Afghanistan, even as the Taliban may attempt to claim credit for their success. But the interesting thing is that these boys did not compete under the Taliban flag, which is white, but under the former flag of Afghanistan and its national anthem. The Taliban may claim some credit but it does not mean affirming their cruel state project. It would rather be symbolized as what James Scott calls "weapons of the weak," forcing the Taliban to appreciate the ethnic group they marginalize.

Despite facing systemic discrimination from the Pashtun majority and other groups, the Hazara people have consistently been at the forefront of Afghanistani sports, demonstrating a profound patriotism that stands in stark contrast to the injustice they endure. This legacy includes Afghanistan's first Olympic medal, won by a Hazara athlete, Rohullah Nikpai, in 2008, and a second in 2012.