Pittsburgh resettlement agency says Afghan immigrants fear future after National Guard shooting

In the wake of the shooting of two members of the National Guard, the Trump administration is pausing all asylum decisions and threatening to return immigrants back to nations like Afghanistan. 

In Pittsburgh, a resettlement agency said the lives of thousands of resettled Afghans are in limbo, even though many served alongside the U.S. military in the war against the Taliban.

Reacting to the shootings that killed one member of the West Virginia National Guard and left the other in critical condition, the president has claimed that proper vetting was not done and vowed to shut the door on immigration from certain countries, including the suspect's native Afghanistan.  

With the fall of Kabul, the Biden administration took in some 76,000 Afghans, many of whom served alongside the U.S. military as translators, drivers and soldiers. Several thousand now call the Pittsburgh region home. 

"There's a beautiful, thriving, robust Afghan community that's been here, that own businesses, that own homes, that have their kids in school," said Sloane Davidson, the founder and CEO of the resettlement agency Hello Neighbor.  

But the U.S. has halted all visa and immigration processing for Afghan nationals, paused asylum case decisions for all nationalities and ordered a review of green card cases involving immigrants from 19 countries currently under a travel ban, putting their lives in limbo.

"It's a grave injustice to people who served alongside the U.S. military," Davidson said. 

Davidson says Afghans now live in fear of being returned to a country where they will be seen as an enemy instead of making a new life in Pittsburgh.   

"All of that is really hard to do when you're constantly looking over your shoulder or watching the news or watching what this administration is saying that's a direct risk and threat to your very existence," Davidson said. 

Still, the president says he is committed to stopping the flow of immigrants seeking asylum and possibly expelling people from Afghanistan who were welcomed here under former President  Biden. 

The question remains about how and if these policies will be implemented. But while all of that is being sorted out, immigrants who had been welcomed here say they will be living in fear.