World Relief Urges President Trump, Secretary Rubio to Keep America’s Commitment to Afghan Allies

Evangelical Christian Organization Responds to Reports of the Pending Shuttering of Congressionally-Established Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) Office

Contact: wr@pinkston.co

(Baltimore, MD) February 19, 2025 – Yesterday, Reuters reported that the U.S. State Department is developing plans to shutter the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) in the coming months. The CARE office serves an indispensable role in keeping America’s commitment to allies at risk because of their service to the U.S. military, because of their status as religious minorities and/or because they are women or girls. World Relief pleads with President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to sustain these vital efforts and not close the CARE office.

After the fall of Kabul in August 2021 under the previous administration, the CARE office was established to coordinate the various federal governmental agencies involved in identifying and evacuating Afghans who were at risk as allies of the United States, to process and vet them in third countries and ultimately to resettle them to the United States. Since August 2021, roughly 120,000 Afghans have been able to rebuild their lives in the safety and freedom of the United States.

World Relief, working in close partnership with thousands of volunteers from hundreds of local churches, has been directly involved in resettling more than 15,000 of these Afghans who arrived either as refugees, with humanitarian parole or with approved Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for individuals at risk because of their service to the U.S. military or other parts of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. 

“It’s been an honor to welcome Afghans who risked their lives for our country and encouraging to see the incredible hospitality of the American people in receiving them,” said Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief. “But our work — and America’s moral obligation to these individuals — is not complete, and it would be a disaster for our country to shutter the CARE office and halt the resettlement effort of the estimated 200,000 vulnerable Afghans still being processed abroad, including many whose family members are already safely resettled in the U.S.”

The CARE office was reauthorized for a three-year period by the U.S. Congress just two months ago as a part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which Secretary of State Marco Rubio supported as a U.S. Senator. The stand-alone bill authorizing the CARE office passed the U.S. House of Representatives in a broad bipartisan vote less than three months ago, with the support of Ambassador to the United Nations Elise Stefanik, Secretary of Labor nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer and most other Republican Members of Congress.

“The Congress has made clear its commitment to our Afghan allies,” said Chelsea Sobolik, World Relief’s Director of Government Relations. “I hope and pray these news reports that the administration is considering closing the office are, as the president might say, ‘fake news.’ Our country must keep its commitment to those vulnerable to Taliban persecution, including those who risked their lives for members of the U.S. armed forces, Christians and other religious minorities and those desperately awaiting reunification to family members who have already been resettled.”

“We also urge the Congress to ensure the long-term security of Afghans who were resettled in the initial evacuation, many of whom were brought to the United States by our government with ‘humanitarian parole,’ but who remain ineligible for any permanent legal status, by passing legislation such as the Afghan Adjustment Act,” added Sobolik. A poll of evangelical Christians conducted by Lifeway Research last month found that three-quarters of all evangelical Christians — including 74 percent of evangelicals who voted for Donald Trump last November — support the core elements of this bipartisan proposal. Last month, the administration issued guidance for revoking parole, which could theoretically put Afghans at risk of deportation if the Afghan Adjustment Act is not passed.  

At present, the refugee resettlement program, which has been one of the primary legal avenues for Afghans to come to the United States in recent years, remains suspended, following an inauguration day order from President Trump that World Relief continues to urge him to reconsider. In the past month, more than 12,000 individuals have signed a Christian Statement in support of refugee resettlement, and the recent Lifeway Research study finds that seven in ten evangelical Christians believe the U.S. has a moral responsibility to receive refugees.

While individuals with approved Special Immigrant Visas should not theoretically be directly affected by this executive order, their government-arranged travel has also been halted. Furthermore, on January 24, the U.S. government halted the disbursement of initial resettlement funds that Congress designated for both refugees and Special Immigrant Visa holders, leaving resettlement agencies like World Relief to scramble to cover the housing costs and other basic needs of thousands of individuals who had already been lawfully resettled in the prior 90 days. World Relief has been grateful by the incredible outpouring from local churches and other community members who have given roughly $6 million in the past few weeks to help fill in the gaps created by abrupt halts to previously committed U.S. governmental funds — but many needs remain to serve Afghans and others left at risk.