Members Urge State Department to Take Immediate Action to Evacuate U.S. Citizens Abroad

“The early failures of the Trump Administration to provide protection for American citizens abroad are inexcusable”

“(T)he failure to adequately protect (embassy staff) from this war shows blatant disregard for them and for the U.S. citizens they help to serve” 

Text of Letter (PDF)

WASHINGTON – This week, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and the entire Massachusetts delegation pressed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to explain the Trump administration’s “complete failure” to evacuate U.S. citizens — including Massachusetts residents — from the Middle East following the administration’s starting a reckless war in Iran.

“The early failures of the Trump administration to provide protection for American citizens abroad are inexcusable,” wrote the lawmakers. “We urge the State Department to take immediate action to support the evacuations of American citizens and provide protection for personnel in U.S. embassies throughout the Middle East.” 

Following the administration’s joint strikes with Israel against Iran on February 28, the State Department put out an alert on March 2 for U.S. citizens to “DEPART NOW” from over a dozen countries in the Middle East “due to serious safety risks.” By the time the Department issued the evacuation order, much of the region’s airspace was already fully or partially closed, significantly limiting options for U.S. citizens to evacuate. 

Despite the evacuation warnings, the Trump administration appears to be leaving Americans on their own to scramble to get to safety. It was not until several days into the war and after Iran had conducted multiple retaliatory strikes against nine countries in the region that the White House announced it was working to evacuate Americans. The administration went on to issue “confusing signals” about whether U.S. citizens can get help. 

On March 3, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem tweeted that it was “not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.” The State Department posted later that afternoon that the government was “actively securing military aircraft and charter flights for American citizens who wish to leave the Middle East.” 

Yet, multiple reports indicate that when Americans called the number that the State Department directed them to for departure assistance for at least several hours after this announcement, they received a message stating: “Please do not rely on the U.S. government for assisted departure or evacuation at this time. There are currently no United States evacuation points.”

“Up to one million U.S. nationals are reportedly living in the Middle East, and the Trump administration’s failures to prepare to evacuate them after the administration and Israel launched a war against Iran puts these citizens’ lives at risk,” wrote the lawmakers. “Additionally, the Trump administration and State Department appear ill-prepared for attacks targeting U.S. embassy personnel, despite the administration having spent months planning Operation Epic Fury.”

On March 3, President Trump admitted the administration had no evacuation plans for Americans abroad because “it all happened very quickly.”

“(T)his debacle is a predictable consequence of the Trump administration’s dismantlement of the State Department,” noted the lawmakers. 

In July 2025, the State Department fired over 1,300 employees, including over 1,100 civil servants and nearly 250 foreign service officers as part of its reorganization directed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Department also recalled almost 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial and senior embassy posts across the world in December 2025. This included the ambassador to Egypt, who has not yet been replaced, and is one of the countries from which Americans have been urged to evacuate. The U.S. also has no confirmed ambassadors in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, Algeria, Libya, and Iraq. 

The Trump administration also appears unprepared to protect and evacuate U.S. embassy staff. The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia was reportedly hit by multiple drone strikes that “caus(ed) part of its roof to collapse,” and the U.S. consulate in the United Arab Emirates also reportedly was struck by a drone in its parking lot. Officials also reportedly “expect() the U.S. death toll to rise, and that some of those deaths could be the result of Iran’s targeting of embassies.” 

“(These challenges) raise serious concerns about the Trump administration and State Department’s failure to adequately plan to protect State Department employees…the failure to adequately protect them from this war shows blatant disregard for them and for the U.S. citizens they help to serve,” wrote the lawmakers. 

“Americans abroad rely on the State Department when they need help overseas — particularly when the United States has started a war that could result in a diplomatic and national security quagmire,” concluded the lawmakers. 

The coalition pressed Secretary Rubio and the State Department for real plans to help American citizens evacuate the Middle East, as well as to explain any involvement it had in the planning for Operation Epic Fury and what steps it took to prepare for evacuating American citizens from the region and to protect U.S. embassy personnel, within one week, by March 12, 2026. 

Text of the letter can be accessed here.

Congresswoman Pressley strongly condemns Trump’s waging war against Iran and sacrificing the lives of U.S. servicemembers and Iranian civilians.

Yesterday, Rep. Pressley voted YES in favor of the War Powers Resolution to stop Trump’s war in Iran and affirm the constitutional power of Congress to authorize a war. She delivered a floor speech yesterday making an appeal to Trump and her colleagues to end this war, spare the servicemembers and Iranian children who stand to be harmed, and consider the lives already lost in the U.S. and Israeli government’s attacks.

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