FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2026
Contact: Timothy Young | timothy[dot]young at globalrefuge[dot]org
WASHINGTON – A federal court ruled that the Trump administration cannot use its travel ban to block the spouses and children of Afghan asylees from joining their families in the United States. Global Refuge, one of the nation’s largest refugee and immigrant-serving organizations, welcomed the ruling as an overdue correction for allies who have waited years to be reunited with loved ones.
In A.A. v. State, Judge Anthony J. Trenga of the Eastern District of Virginia vacated the State Department’s policy of applying travel ban restrictions to family members of people already granted asylum — even though the proclamations, by their own text, exempt asylees and those seeking asylum and refugee status. The court ordered the government to issue travel documents to five family members within 15 days, reconsider two more applications without regard to the ban, and report back every two weeks until the families arrive.
“Afghans who supported the U.S. mission and won protection here have waited years to bring their spouses and children to safety,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Global Refuge. “This ruling made clear what the travel ban’s own text already said: its restrictions were never meant to reach asylees, or the family members our laws entitle them to bring to safety. Fortunately, the court saw this case for what it is: families who simply want to be whole again.”
For Global Refuge, which has resettled and supported thousands of Afghans since the 2021 withdrawal, the decision underscores a promise still unkept. Nearly five years on, many Afghan allies who reached safety remain separated from spouses, children, and parents they were forced to leave behind. Global Refuge has repeatedly warned that this separation leaves vulnerable family members in precarious conditions, while those in the U.S. carry the constant stress and anxiety of knowing their loved ones remain at risk.
Global Refuge reiterates that family reunification has long served as an anchor of American refugee and asylum policy — a recognition, across administrations of both parties, that people find stability and contribute most fully when their families are safe and together.
“Family reunification is a promise this country has kept for generations, written into our laws precisely because no one should have to choose between their own safety and their children’s,” concluded Vignarajah. “This ruling keeps that promise for a handful of families, and we urge the administration to extend it to the many still waiting.”
Global Refuge urges the administration to move quickly to comply with the court’s order and reunite the families in this case without delay. We also call on Congress to act quickly and decisively to mandate a broad exemption under the travel ban for all at‑risk Afghans who have already been vetted and approved for lawful entry, including those awaiting resettlement through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and those eligible under the Special Immigrant Visa program. At a moment when so many Afghan families remain at risk, the United States must honor its moral responsibility to the allies and partners who stood beside us and ensure they are not left behind now.
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