SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The Trump administration is reportedly considering sending 1,100 Afghan wartime allies to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Advocates for the Afghan allies say sending the refugees to Congo puts them in danger and breaks a promise the U.S. made to them years ago.
"This is a great American injustice," Shawn VanDiver said.
VanDiver is the president and founder of AfghanEvac, a San Diego-based group that supports Afghan refugees. He said he started hearing of the plan from political aides and organizations with ties to the State Department.
"This is not a plan. This is a heinous abdication of our American values and a heinous abdication of our American responsibility," VanDiver said.
The 1,100 refugees are currently in Qatar. They were evacuated from Afghanistan for their safety and were waiting for resettlement in the U.S. The refugees are people who worked with and supported U.S. military members during the war against the Taliban. The group includes their family members and more than 400 children.
President Trump halted the U.S. resettlement program for Afghans last year.
"It is a bad plan. It is bad for our long-term national security. Nobody's ever gonna trust us again. It's bad for the safety and security of the mostly women and children who are stuck at Camp As Sayliyah," Van Diver said.
Van Diver argues that sending these U.S. allies to Congo is just as bad as sending them back to Afghanistan. He said the U.S. has to keep the promise it made to resettle them here for their role as allies during the war.
"These folks have believed in the idea of America, and that's the crazy part. They still believe in us. They still believe in veterans. They still believe in the American people," Van Diver said.
On Wednesday, the State Department said it is working to identify options to voluntarily resettle the refugees in a third country, but did not confirm which countries.
