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Germany and Other European Countries Suspend Decisions on Syrians’ Asylum Bids after Assad’s Fall

Members of the Syrian community wave Syrian flags and light flares on December 8, 2024, in Berlin, Germany, and celebrate the end of Syrian Bashar al-Assad's rule after opposition fighters took control of the Syrian capital Damascus overnight. (AFP)
Members of the Syrian community wave Syrian flags and light flares on December 8, 2024, in Berlin, Germany, and celebrate the end of Syrian Bashar al-Assad's rule after opposition fighters took control of the Syrian capital Damascus overnight. (AFP)
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Germany and Other European Countries Suspend Decisions on Syrians’ Asylum Bids after Assad’s Fall

Members of the Syrian community wave Syrian flags and light flares on December 8, 2024, in Berlin, Germany, and celebrate the end of Syrian Bashar al-Assad's rule after opposition fighters took control of the Syrian capital Damascus overnight. (AFP)
Members of the Syrian community wave Syrian flags and light flares on December 8, 2024, in Berlin, Germany, and celebrate the end of Syrian Bashar al-Assad's rule after opposition fighters took control of the Syrian capital Damascus overnight. (AFP)

Germany and several other European countries said Monday they are suspending decisions on asylum claims by Syrian nationals because of the unclear situation in their homeland following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said Monday that more than 47,000 applications are currently pending. It said it would reassess the situation and resume decisions once things in Syria have stabilized.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Sonja Kock noted that asylum decisions take account of the circumstances of each case, which involves assessing the situation in the applicant’s country. She said the migration authority has the option of prioritizing cases from other places if a situation is unclear, as it currently is in Syria.

More broadly, German officials said it’s too early to tell what the fall of Assad will ultimately mean for the many Syrians who sought refuge in Germany in recent years, particularly in the mid-2010s.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said it’s not yet possible to predict "concrete possibilities to return" and "it would be unserious to speculate about this in such a volatile situation."

Her ministry said that, as of Oct. 31, there were 974,136 Syrian nationals in the country, the majority of whom had some kind of refugee or other protected status.

In neighboring Austria, Chancellor Karl Nehammer also tasked his interior minister with suspending decisions on current asylum applications by Syrians, the Austria Press Agency reported.

"It is important to first establish facts, to put asylum and family reunion procedures on hold," Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said. "We need to wait until the dust settles, so we can see what is happening, what the next points are."

Sweden's Migration Agency said it will also pause decisions on Syrian asylum cases, arguing that it isn't possible at present to assess applicants' reasons for seeking protection. It didn't specify how long the pause would last, but said a similar decision was made in connection with the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan in 2021.

In Finland, the director of the Department for International Protection at the Finnish Immigration Service, Antti Lehtinen, told public broadcaster YLE that decisions have been suspended there, and he can't immediately estimate when they will resume.

In Norway, the Directorate of Immigration announced a similar decision, saying that it has put asylum applications from Syria on hold "until further notice."

France says it was considering following Germany's example.

"We are working on a suspension of ongoing asylum files from Syria," the French Interior Ministry said. "We should reach a decision in the coming hours."

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Trump Administration Cancels Travel for Refugees Already Cleared to Resettle in the US

An Afghan refugee man, who asked not to use his name and not to show his face fearing his identity could lead to his capture, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP)
An Afghan refugee man, who asked not to use his name and not to show his face fearing his identity could lead to his capture, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP)
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Trump Administration Cancels Travel for Refugees Already Cleared to Resettle in the US

An Afghan refugee man, who asked not to use his name and not to show his face fearing his identity could lead to his capture, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP)
An Afghan refugee man, who asked not to use his name and not to show his face fearing his identity could lead to his capture, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP)

Refugees who had been approved to travel to the United States before a deadline next week suspending America's refugee resettlement program have had their travel plans canceled by the Trump administration.

Thousands of refugees who fled war and persecution and had gone through a sometimes yearslong process to start new lives in America are now stranded at various locations worldwide. That includes more than 1,600 Afghans who assisted America's war effort, as well as relatives of active-duty US military personnel.

President Donald Trump paused the refugee resettlement program this week as part of a series of executive orders cracking down on immigration. His move had left open the possibility that refugees who had been screened to come to the US and had flights booked before the Jan. 27 deadline might be able to get in under the wire.

But in an email dated Tuesday and reviewed by The Associated Press, the US agency overseeing refugee processing and arrivals told staff and stakeholders that "refugee arrivals to the United States have been suspended until further notice."

There are a little more than 10,000 refugees from around the world who had already gone through the lengthy refugee admission process and had travel scheduled over the next few weeks, according to a document obtained by the AP. It was not immediately clear how many of those had been set to arrive by upcoming deadline.

Among those are more than 1,600 Afghans cleared to come to the US as part of the program that the Biden administration set up after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Many veterans of America's longest war have tried for years to help Afghans they worked with, in addition to their families, find refuge in the US. Many were prepared for a suspension of the resettlement program but had hoped for special consideration for the Afghans.

"The Trump administration’s early pause of refugee flights is alarming, leaving thousands of Afghan allies in fear and uncertainty," said Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran and head of #AfghanEvac, a coalition supporting Afghan resettlement efforts. "We are ready to partner to fix this and urge clear communication with impacted families. Let’s honor our promises and uphold America’s values."

There is a separate path — the special immigrant visa program— specifically for Afghans who worked directly with the US government. VanDiver's group said that program, set up by Congress, did not appear to be affected at this time.

Trump's order signed Monday had given the State Department a week before it began to halt all processing and traveling. It appears the timing was moved up, though it was not immediately clear what prompted the change.

The State Department referred questions to the White House.

Agencies that help refugees settle and adjust to life in America have argued that this is the type of legal immigration that Trump and his supporters say they like and have pointed to the stringent background checks and sometimes yearslong wait that refugees endure before setting foot in America.

"This abrupt halt to refugee admissions is devastating for families who have already endured unimaginable hardship and waited years for the chance to rebuild their lives in safety," Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, head of Global Refuge, one of the 10 US resettlement agencies, said in a statement Wednesday.

"Refugees go through one of the most rigorous vetting processes in the world, and many are now seeing their travel canceled just days, or even hours, before they were set to begin their new lives in the United States," she said. "It’s utterly heartbreaking."

Refugees are distinct from people who come directly to the US-Mexico border with the goal of eventually seeking asylum. Refugees must be living outside of the US to be considered for resettlement and are usually referred to the State Department by the United Nations.

While the resettlement program has historically enjoyed bipartisan support, the first Trump administration also temporarily halted resettlement and then lowered the number of refugees who could enter the country annually.