Act Daily News
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For greater than a yr, I’ve been attempting to assist a household depart Afghanistan for security and a brand new life overseas. I met one member of the household of 4 years in the past on a number of assignments in Afghanistan and we’ve stayed in contact by way of the various ups and downs of the battle and its aftermath.
The father is eligible to use for a Special Immigrant Visa attributable to his service alongside the US navy. He was accredited, which places him and his household among the many fortunate ones. Many tens of hundreds extra are nonetheless ready for approval, however even that, if it comes, isn’t a ticket out.
The US State Department approved this father to petition for SIV standing and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (an company of the Department of Homeland Security) accredited his SIV petition. However, SIV approval doesn’t equal freedom for him and different Afghans with comparable standing – removed from it. The limitations, paperwork and delays have plagued this system because the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. And final week, Congress eliminated language from the National Defense Authorization Act that might have prolonged this system for an additional yr.
The story of this one household – whose identification I’m intentionally withholding for his or her security – is one in every of repeated disappointments. I first tried to get them in another country on a US navy aircraft in late August 2021 as US forces had been withdrawing. There was no set course of for doing so, nothing shut. Their solely likelihood was to navigate a crowd of lots of bearing down on Abbey Gate at Kabul’s worldwide airport, wave their papers within the air and hope a US service member noticed them and allow them to into the airfield.
Unfortunately, no troopers noticed them. It was solely the mom’s exhaustion months into her being pregnant that led them to depart the airport. That determination might have saved their lives. They missed the lethal suicide bombing at Abbey Gate, which killed 13 US service members (a few of the similar women and men this household had been attempting desperately to flag down) and almost 200 Afghan civilians, by simply hours.
Their effort to flee Afghanistan was simply starting. The subsequent problem was to use for the SIV. The father labored for the US navy for a adequate time frame and in a adequate capability to qualify. He had proof of the size and particulars of his employment, and letters from his employer supporting his utility.
He additionally had the benefit of mates right here within the US, together with myself; David Leopold, who’s a lawyer with Ulmer and Berne LLP; and Alex Plitsas of the Human First Coalition, working to get his utility so as and, the place attainable, advocate to maneuver it alongside by way of the approval course of. Even with this assist, it took him near a yr to obtain provisional approval.
But approval is only a first step. Next up is satisfying but extra US authorities paperwork, together with determining the place to do your embassy SIV interview. Afghanistan just isn’t an possibility because the US withdrew. There is not a US embassy in Kabul. That leaves Afghan SIV candidates the duty of discovering their method to third nations – “lily pads,” as they’ve come to be recognized – led by Qatar. Other nations, resembling Pakistan, Albania and Iran, have served as transit factors for some refugees, although in these nations candidates typically must help themselves.
To get to a type of nations, Afghans want passports – a relative luxurious for a lot of. In the case of this household, the daddy has one, however his spouse and kids don’t. Applying for and receiving a passport from the Taliban-controlled authorities, like so many steps on this course of, is tough and generally unattainable. The Taliban has periodically closed the passport workplace, or restricted entry to solely members of the Taliban. I’m informed by advocacy teams that when the workplace is open, the method is rife with bribery. Getting a single passport can price hundreds of {dollars}, a fortune for Afghans, and the danger of fraud is big. More just lately, there was one other problem: a scarcity of the passport books themselves.
If and when a household can get passports – the household I’m serving to continues to be attempting – they need to then resolve the place they are going to apply to have their consular interview, which is the following step within the SIV course of. Pakistan, which is accessible through land, is crowded with Afghans who escaped however can go no additional and non-Pashtuns face threats there. The look ahead to interviews will be months. Qatar has set a tough restrict on the variety of Afghans allowed in. And it may be tough for Afghans to handle journey to Albania, one other “lily pad” nation.
For these fortunate sufficient to rearrange an interview in a type of nations, the maths standing in the best way of touring is harrowing. Today, there are 15,000 principal candidates cleared to fly and the State Department estimates greater than 30,000 quick members of the family as effectively, totaling some 50,000 Afghans already accredited and able to go. The State Department tells Act Daily News it had been managing to get solely about 250 Afghans and their members of the family in another country per week. At that fee, it can take almost 4 years to get all SIV-approved Afghans and their households out to security.
But these flights have stopped in current weeks because of the World Cup being hosted in Qatar and aren’t anticipated to start once more till the brand new yr. It is estimated that greater than 100,000 extra, who could also be eligible however have but to be accredited, are ready behind them.
Those months and years of ready aren’t simply irritating. They will be harmful. Many who served with the US navy share accounts of the Taliban searching them down. They transfer from protected home to protected home, if they’ve entry to 1, or journey round on their very own, generally separate from their households.
This story has been up to date with further particulars.