Many in Nashville’s Afghan community are facing an uncertain future due to a new immigration crackdown from the Trump administration. The move follows the recent shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., allegedly by an Afghan national who had formerly worked with the CIA.
After the shooting, which left one dead and another critically injured, the Trump administration announced that all immigration requests for Afghan nationals would be halted indefinitely. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump issued a “travel ban” proclamation pausing all entry into the United States for nationals from 19 countries, including Afghanistan.
Now, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will be reevaluating green card recipients — legal U.S. residents — from Afghanistan, as well as those 18 other countries.
“We must now reexamine every alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden,” said Trump from his Mar-a-Lago resort immediately following the shooting.
More than 190,000 Afghan refugees have been resettled in the United States since American forces withdrew from Kabul in 2021. That number includes about 4,000 people right here in Middle Tennessee, according to the head of the Nashville Afghan Association, Hangama Wahidi.
“First of all, we’re just sad about what happened. Our hearts go to both families,” she said, “We are sorry as a community, as Afghan Americans. But at the same time, please just see it as it is and do not blame all Afghans or Muslims.”
Wahidi said many of the refugees who have been resettled in Nashville over the past few years are waiting to reunite with loved ones still in Afghanistan. The fall of Kabul was so sudden and chaotic; many were separated from their spouses, parents and children in the rush to get out. Once they came to America, they were able to file for their families to join them. But now, that process has been frozen.
“Everything has been just halted suddenly. So it’s very, very hard for for them. Like, what’s going to happen now?”
Many of those who came to Middle Tennessee had worked for the American government in Afghanistan. Until now, they thought their residential status in the United States was secure.
“With this happening, nobody really feels safe, and the fact that any of them at any point could be deported is really hard on them,” said Wahidi.
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The Nashville Afghan Association released a written statement about the shooting, which Wahidi said she is sending to local elected officials, along with a plea to assist those with family members now stranded in Afghanistan:
The Afghan Association of Nashville condemns in the strongest possible terms the horrific tragedy and attack that occurred on two National Guardsmen on Wednesday. Violence has no place in our society. Any individual who commits violence should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and held fully and individually responsible for all their actions. We urge the federal administration not to confound the act of one with the goodwill of the many Afghans who are here lawfully, living peacefully, and contributing meaningfully to American society.
Our hearts and thoughts are with the families and loved ones of Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe. We have always believed that we should all be kind to one another, and be good to our neighbors, and this type of senseless tragedy has no place in the society we all uphold.
With respect,
Afghan Association of Nashville
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