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Connections

Trump cancels flights for hundreds of refugees

A smiling man with short dark hair wearing a blue button-down shirt and a grey blazer. He is holding a pair of eyeglasses. The word "Connections" appears on the left side of the photo in vertical letters.
WXXI News

President Trump signed an executive order that suspends the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, pausing most refugee admissions.

Keeping Our Promise is a Rochester-based organization that has helped bring hundreds of Afghan allies and their families to Western New York. Suddenly the promise of a new life in the United States is in jeopardy.

President Trump has canceled flights for 1,660 Afghan refugees who had previously been cleared by the U.S. government, according to Reuters. Some are children; some fought for the former U.S.-backed government.

Now there are questions about how this order could affect Afghans on Special Immigrant Visas, or SIVs, as well as other refugee groups.

We discuss the implications of these actions with our guests:

Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.
Megan Mack is the executive producer of "Connections with Evan Dawson" and live/televised engagement programming.
Julie Williams is an associate producer for "Connections with Evan Dawson" and is also the office administrator for radio, news and technology and operations. She started at WXXI in 2019 and has been working on Connections since 2022.