Kristi Noem Slammed For Saying Afghans Can Safely Return To Their Country: 'Divorced From Reality'

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem is being criticized after the Trump administration announced it would end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans in the United States, with one expert calling the decision "divorced from reality."

Speaking to NBC News, Eleanor Acer, senior director for global humanitarian protection at Human Rights First, said it's "absurd and divorced from reality to claim that Afghan refugees can safely return" to their country.

"Journalists, human rights advocates, religious minorities, women's rights defenders and people who worked with the U.S. military and government are all in danger of Taliban persecution or retaliation if they are forced back to Afghanistan," she said.

A member of a nonprofit helping Afghans who worked with the U.S. government during its involvement in the country added that "it's unfathomable that DHS can say the economy of Afghanistan has stabilized" and that "Afghans don't need TPS anymore."

Noem said in a statement on Monday that the DHS "reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan" and concluded "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 the country.

DHS also gave similar arguments when justifying its decision to end TPS for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, a move that was also met with criticism from advocates who argue the described scenario is far from reality.

The Trump administration's criteria is under increased scrutiny, especially after receiving the first group of white South Africans as refugees. President Donald Trump defended the decision, saying there is a "genocide that is taking place" in the country.

"They're being killed. And we don't want to see people be killed. South African leadership is coming to see me some time next week. We're supposed to have a G20 meeting or something. I don't know how we can go unless that situation is taken care of. it's a genocide that's taking place," Trump told reporters.

Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau said later that part of the criteria to receive them is "making sure they can be assimilated easily into our country."

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pushed back against the claim saying that those in question are not victims of persecution, but rather "a fringe grouping" who oppose South Africa's post-apartheid reform.

"They are leaving ostensibly because they don't want to embrace the changes that are taking place in our country," Ramaphosa said, adding that those individuals "would actually like to see South Africa go back to apartheid."