Trump’s halt on refugees leaves Pa. families fearful for loved ones overseas: ‘There is no hope’
By Jeff Gammage and Julia Terruso
Published on February 19, 2025
PHILADELPHIA — American embassy specialist Mohibullah Hasrat was evacuated from Afghanistan as the nation fell to the Taliban, departing Kabul with the promise that his parents and sisters would join him in the United States.
Finally, three years after they took refuge in Pakistan, his family was set to arrive in Philadelphia on Feb. 9 — their flight suddenly canceled, after President Donald Trump ordered halt to the nation’s refugee-admissions program. Now Hasrat’s father, mother, and three siblings face imminent deportation to Afghanistan, into the hands of a vengeful Taliban.
As the ban roils government offices and resettlement agencies, Hasrat, 32, knows only this: If the Taliban takes his parents and sisters, he’ll return to Afghanistan and surrender. That way, at least, they will all die together.
