00:00After six months of work, we were very hopeful because we found the email of the documents.
00:09It was very close to our flight.
00:12But Mr. Trump announced his decision to cancel the whole process.
00:21Because of this, we were completely disappointed.
00:24And now we are in a very hopeless situation.
00:30Sangre is among the some 20,000 Afghans in Pakistan caught in limbo between the Trump
00:35administration's suspension of resettlement programs and Pakistan's repatriation policies.
00:43This group fled the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021.
00:48They were deemed at risk in their own country, having worked with the US government, military
00:53or NATO forces there.
00:55This group included judges as well as human rights activists.
00:59For over three years, they have been looking to be resettled in the US via its refugee
01:04admissions program or the special immigration visa.
01:08But these programs have been suspended for at least three months from 28 January 2025
01:14via recent executive orders issued by US President Donald Trump.
01:19Meanwhile, the group are now under pressure to leave their host country, Pakistan.
01:25We are deprived of everything.
01:27We cannot return to our country.
01:30Our lives are in danger.
01:33We cannot live in peace.
01:36The feeling that you cannot live in peace and your future is unknown is a very bad feeling.
01:46Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on February 3 announced plans for a new round
01:51of mass deportations, targeting some 3 million Afghans, both documented and undocumented,
01:58in the country.
01:59While the repatriations will take place in several rounds, approximately 1 million Afghans
02:05with legal refugee status have only been permitted to remain in the country until the end of
02:11June 2025.
02:13And March 31 has been set as a deadline to expel Afghan refugees from the capital Islamabad
02:20and the nearby city of Rawalpindi.
02:23This has left those Afghans who worked for the US fearing for their lives and those in
02:28Pakistan dread the possibility of being killed if forced to return.
02:33I received a phone call saying that you are not where you are supposed to be and that
02:40you are working for someone else.
02:44I did not tell them my address.
02:47My daughters were also deported.
02:49They did not have a place for us.
02:51We came back to Pakistan.
02:53In November 2023, Pakistan launched a crackdown on undocumented migrants.
02:59This was largely aimed at the millions of Afghans in the country.
03:03Since then, some 800,000 have been repatriated to Afghanistan.
03:09UN agencies have expressed concerns for groups such as women and girls, as well as human
03:15rights activists who are forced to return to Afghanistan.
03:19Meanwhile, for the Afghans who have already waited some three-and-a-half years to be resettled
03:25in the US, their situation feels desperate.
03:30My request to the people of the United States is that the human rights activists,
03:36the leaders of Congress, stand with these refugees and defend their rights.
03:45This is their human right.
03:47They have to defend their rights.
03:49This crackdown has been going on for three months.
03:55I would like them to cancel it.
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