Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has stripped protections from deportation for Afghans and Cameroonians in the U.S., calling into question the ability of some Afghan evacuees to remain in America.

Citizens of both countries have been protected by Temporary Protected Status (TPS) since 2022, protecting anyone already in the U.S. from being sent back to either country due to dangerous conditions and instability.

While courts have blocked similar efforts by Noem for other countries, the move nevertheless creates uncertainty for those set to lose the status. 

“The secretary determined that Afghanistan no longer continues to meet the statutory requirements for its T.P.S. designation and so she terminated T.P.S. for Afghanistan,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the agency.

The statement said Noem had done so on March 21, the statutory deadline for reviewing whether to continue protections but in place under the Biden administration.

Noem did so for Cameroon on April 7, as that country’s protections are set to expire in June.

The New York Times first reported the decision.

The move was swiftly condemned by Afghan advocates, who pointed to deteriorating conditions in the country that have accelerated since the U.S. withdrawal in 2021, including widespread food insecurity.

“TPS exists for a reason: to protect people whose return to their country would place them in grave danger. Afghanistan today is still reeling from Taliban rule, economic collapse, and humanitarian disaster. Nothing about that reality has changed,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of Global Refuge, a refugee resettlement agency, said in a statement. 

“Terminating protections for Afghans is a morally indefensible betrayal of allies who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with us to advance American interests throughout our country’s longest war.”

Many of the roughly 80,000 Afghans who came to the U.S. after the fall of Kabul have adjusted their status, either securing asylum or a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) given to those who assisted U.S. military efforts there. But many are still protected under TPS.

The Biden administration last renewed TPS for Afghanistan in September 2023, with protectees set to lose the status in May of this year. DHS previously estimated that approximately 14,600 Afghans would be eligible under the latest redesignation of TPS.

“Extraordinary and temporary conditions, including lack of access to food, clean water, and healthcare, as well as destroyed infrastructure, internal displacement, and economic instability continue to prevent Afghan nationals from returning to their homeland in safety,” the Biden administration determined at the time.

A federal judge last week temporarily blocked Noem’s rescission of TPS for Venezuelans, determining that the decision was “motivated at least in part by animus” and that her decision was “entirely lacking in evidentiary support.”

However, while Noem sought to vacate protections for Venezuelans, the latest moves would let existing protections expire.

The decision could still face challenges on the grounds that it is unsafe to return Afghan nationals to the country.

DHS noted that “if the Secretary determines that the country no longer meets the statutory conditions for designation, she must terminate the designation.” The agency said it will explain its rationale for doing so in a forthcoming notice on the federal register.