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Connections
Connections

Afghan refugees in limbo: what's next for allies who served the U.S. military?

By Evan Dawson,
Megan Mack, Julie Williams
Published April 16, 2025 at 2:42 PM EDT
Three people sit at a table in a radio talk studio: a man at left has short brown hair and a brown beard and is wearing a white button-down shirt; a woman at center has short grey hair and is wearing glasses, a light blue blazer and black shirt; a man at right has short dark hair and is wearing a puffy navy vest, blue button-down shirt, jeans and sneakers.
George Yeadon
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WXXI News
Stephen Cady and Ellen Smith on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Wednesday, April 16, 2025
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WXXI News

Trump administration policies have left about 40,000 Afghan refugees who served the U.S. military in limbo. The Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program has been paused under Trump's executive order, leaving Afghan allies as targets of the Taliban.

In Rochester, the nonprofit Keeping Our Promise has expedited its work to resettle refugees, but that work grows more difficult by the day. This hour, we discuss the state of the SIV program and how it's affecting Afghan refugees who were approved to come to Rochester.

Our guests:

Connections
Evan Dawson
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.
See stories by Evan Dawson
Megan Mack
Megan Mack is the executive producer of "Connections with Evan Dawson" and live/televised engagement programming.
See stories by Megan Mack
Julie Williams
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.
See stories by Julie Williams