Afghan refugees in Richmond fear fallout from immigration freeze
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Afghan refugees about to board a bus at Dulles Airport in August 2021 to head to a processing center. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The fallout from last month's D.C. shooting — where a suspected gunman from Afghanistan killed one National Guard member and injured another— has Afghan refugees in Richmond fearing an uncertain future, community leaders tell Axios.
The big picture: More than 2,600 Afghan refugees have resettled in the Richmond area since 2021, when the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan and Kabul fell to the Taliban, per an Axios review of state data.
- They're now among those at the center of the Trump administration's sweeping immigration crackdown, which includes a review of every Afghan who arrived in the U.S. between 2021 and February 2025.
- The crackdown also suspends immigration applications and asylum decisions for people from Afghanistan.
State of play: Since the shooting, some local families have seen their citizenship oath ceremonies abruptly canceled, says Shoeb Siddiqi with the Islamic Center of Virginia in Chesterfield.
- The center helped support Afghans who arrived in 2021.
- Other families have learned that long-awaited visa appointments for their children in Afghanistan have been called off, Siddiqi adds.
- And Siddiqi says deportation fears have some thinking, "If I get deported, I [helped] the U.S. Army. They're going to kill me back home."
Zoom in: Richmond chef Hamidullah Noori, who fled Kabul in 2015, says his Afghan employees with pending asylum cases are afraid they'll be detained at scheduled court hearings.
- Noori owns The Mantu restaurant in Carytown and The Mantu Market in Henrico.
- He notes the indefinite immigration freeze has also rattled Richmonders with families still in Afghanistan, like his.
- His now-paused sponsorship applications for relatives overseas include his 16-year-old niece, who can't attend school under Taliban rule. Each application costs thousands.
What they're saying: "We really work hard day to day to earn pennies to save it and apply for these cases," says Noori. "You're just hoping to bring your family from a country where there is no future right now."
Zoom out: Refugees undergo years of intense security vetting before arriving in the U.S., says Kristen Larcher, refugee program director at Commonwealth Catholic Charities, a major resettlement agency with Richmond offices.
- Now, Commonwealth Catholic Charities is fielding calls from Afghan families in Virginia asking if they should leave the country.
- All three community leaders worry the targeted crackdown will fuel Islamophobia toward Muslims broadly, not just Afghans.
- After past incidents involving Muslim suspects, Siddiqi says some local women who wear hijabs stopped going to the grocery store out of fear.
What we're watching: Noori tells Axios that amid the uncertainty, the community has kept showing up to support him and Mantu staff — some with handwritten cards.
- "That gives us hope," he says. "That no matter what the government is doing, the people are always with you."
