Sen. Angus King has joined 100 Senate and House colleagues in calling on the Trump administration to reverse its termination of Temporary Protected Status for Afghans who served alongside America’s military, some of whom have settled in Maine.

In a letter sent Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the lawmakers noted the potentially devastating impact of the termination, set to take effect in mid-July. They say the decision is reckless and inhumane, jeopardizing the lives of about 9,000 Afghans who supported the U.S. military during the war in Afghanistan and who face significant danger if they return to their native country.

King, Maine’s independent senator, is a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a longtime advocate of protecting Afghans who supported American troops.

“We write with deep concern about the Department of Homeland Security’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghanistan, which is scheduled to take effect on July 14, 2025,” the letter states. “This decision is devastating for resettled Afghan nationals in the United States who have fled widespread violence, economic instability, challenging humanitarian conditions, and human rights abuses in their home country.”

The letter continues, “Many of these Afghans fearlessly served as strong allies to the United States military during the war in Afghanistan, and we cannot blatantly disregard their service.”

The lawmakers said they “respectfully ask that you redesignate Afghanistan for TPS to ensure Afghan nationals in the U.S. are not forced to return to devastating humanitarian, civic and economic conditions.”

The termination of Temporary Protected Status for Afghanistan would negatively affect about 9,000 Afghan nationals who came to the U.S. after American troops withdrew from the country in 2021, the letter states.

According to the termination notice, 11,700 Afghans in the U.S. currently have Temporary Protected Status, but 3,600 of them had already received so-called green cards and were lawful permanent residents as of April.

Afghanistan is also one of 12 countries that President Donald Trump announced Wednesday whose citizens would be banned from entering the U.S. starting Monday, along with Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Trump said the ban is a response to Sunday’s terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, by an Egyptian national on demonstrators seeking the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. A dozen people were injured.

About 60,000 Afghan evacuees were airlifted out of Kabul and flown to the U.S. in the wake of the war. As many as 225 were resettled in Maine, which already had about 400 Afghan-American residents.

Leaders of Maine’s Afghan community didn’t immediately respond Thursday to inquiries about the impact of TPS termination.

The letter was signed by 101 lawmakers overall, including 72 House members, all Democrats and a few independents. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, and Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, didn’t sign the letter.

Collins said she wasn’t asked to sign the letter and believes abandoning Afghans who aided and protected American soldiers is “just plain wrong.”

“I did not support abandoning our Afghan allies then, and I believe they are still entitled to protection,” Collins said in an emailed statement, which noted that she also supports strong vetting requirements for TPS applicants.

Pingree’s staff said she shares the concerns raised in the letter and continues to support efforts to ensure Afghan nationals are treated with dignity and compassion. They noted that House members receive hundreds of letter-signing requests each week and not signing one should not be interpreted as a lack of support for the issue.

“(Pingree) remains deeply concerned about the implications of ending TPS for Afghanistan and is closely monitoring how the decision could impact Afghan families living in Maine,” Pingree’s office said in an emailed statement.

Golden’s staff said they didn’t see the letter before it was sent, but he knows firsthand the courage that Afghan allies showed to support America’s efforts during the war. “He has a long track record of support for increasing visa availability for these allies,” they said.

By law, the secretary of homeland security may designate a foreign country for Temporary Protected Status when conditions “prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately.”

Afghanistan was initially designated for TPS in May 2022, based on ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions, the termination notice states. It was extended for 18 months from November 2023 through May 2025.

“This administration is returning TPS to its original temporary intent,” Noem said. “We’ve reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our interagency partners, and they do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation. Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevents them from returning to their home country.”

Noem also said the termination, announced May 12, furthers the administration’s efforts related to immigration policy because Department of Homeland Security records show “there are (TPS) recipients who have been under investigation for fraud and threatening our public safety and national security.”

Noem found “notable improvements in the security and economic situation in Afghanistan,” so returning Afghan nationals to their native country “does not pose a threat to their personal safety.”

In their letter, Senate and House members disputed that assertion, saying in their letter that the Taliban and Islamic State affiliates continue to attack ethnic and religious minorities, oppress women and girls and curtail free speech and the media, including the detention and torture of journalists.

“The horrific human rights conditions in Afghanistan are unsafe for Afghan nationals to return to and returning would put their personal safety at immediate risk,” the letter states. “Afghan nationals who assisted the U.S. military should not be put in harm’s way because they supported the U.S. in its fight against the Taliban. This would be a betrayal of those who bravely served alongside our servicemembers for nearly two decades.”

The lawmakers noted a recent Human Rights Watch report that found 12.4 million people in Afghanistan were food insecure and 2.9 million were facing starvation. According to the World Bank, the per-capita income in Afghanistan “has stagnated, while poverty and food insecurity remain pressing challenges, exacerbated by high unemployment and restrictions on women’s economic participation.”

The Senate and House members concluded that “forcing Afghan nationals in the U.S. to return to Afghanistan would be reckless and inhumane, and would threaten the safety and well-being of thousands of individuals and families, especially women and girls.”

They urged the administration to reconsider its decision to terminate TPS for Afghanistan and asked for responses to the following information within two weeks:

• Credible reports that conditions have improved in Afghanistan since 2023.

• Details on TPS recipients “who have been under investigation for fraud and threatening our public safety and national security,” as the administration claims.

• Explanation of how the administration reached the determination that Afghanistan no longer meets conditions necessary for TPS designation.

• Any reports showing the Taliban is no longer a threat to Afghan nationals who assisted the U.S. military.

• What steps the administration is taking to ensure that Afghan nationals who previously had TPS won’t be sent back to persecution or torture in Afghanistan.