Washington
Act Daily News
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Criminal prices have been dropped towards an Afghan nationwide who served with the US navy in Afghanistan and was apprehended after fleeing to the US by crossing the southern border with Mexico.
Abdul Wasi Safi, referred to as Wasi, served alongside US particular operations forces in Afghanistan as an Afghan particular forces soldier and fled the nation after the US’ withdrawal was full in August 2021. He traveled to the US on his personal, and in September 2022 he was detained after he entered over the southern border from Mexico.
Safi’s case has drawn the eye of veteran teams and US lawmakers who pushed for the fees to be dropped and the Biden administration to take motion and grant him the best to remain within the nation whereas he awaited a listening to on his asylum declare.
Safi’s immigration lawyer, Jennifer Cervantes, instructed Act Daily News that he meant to hunt asylum, however was unfamiliar with the reporting necessities and didn’t go to a longtime port of entry.
“He didn’t understand that he needed to go to a port of entry to ask for asylum, otherwise this case would have been very different,” Cervantes stated on Wednesday. “Wasi’s not from the southern border, he’s not from Latin America, and so he wasn’t really aware of how to actually present himself for asylum … He thought that he needed to apply as soon as he found a CBP (Customs and Border Protection) official to give him his documents, and that’s exactly what he did.”
Safi was finally charged with failing to adjust to reporting necessities, however court docket information present that the fees had been dismissed by a Texas choose on Monday.
The news was introduced on Tuesday night by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.
“Mr. Safi came across the Rio Grande with a group of migrants after being beaten in another country and desperate to find a way to reach America to see freedom,” Jackson Lee stated in an announcement on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, his entry was at a non-port of entry and Mr. Safi has been held ever since in detention facilities. What happened over the last couple of weeks was a strategic and forceful effort to bring all agencies together to make the right decision for Mr. Safi.”
Jackson Lee took a job in serving to get the fees dropped by reaching out to management of US companies to talk to Safi’s standing as an Afghan soldier and particular person who labored alongside US forces, she instructed Act Daily News on Wednesday.
“I’m very grateful to the leadership of the Department of Defense who answered my call immediately and provided important and valuable information,” she stated, although she declined to offer extra particulars on what that help seemed like.
“I’m grateful to say thank you to my government,” Jackson Lee added. “Thank you to my president, and thank you to the leadership of the different agencies including the Department of Defense that really understood his plight and worked hard to ensure that we moved this process along.”
Sami-ullah Safi, Wasi Safi’s brother who goes by Sami and who additionally labored alongside the US navy in Afghanistan earlier than he turned a US citizen in July 2021, celebrated the news on Wednesday however instructed Act Daily News he nonetheless has questions.
“He came to the same country that he fought alongside, and to his surprise he was singled out and treated as a criminal. Is this how America treats its allies and those who sacrificed alongside Americans in Afghanistan?” Sami Safi stated. “My service for the military should have been valued. My brother’s service to the military should have been valued.”
According to a letter despatched to President Joe Biden by a coalition of US veterans teams, Wasi Safi “served faithfully alongside US Special Operations Forces” and “continued to support the Northern resistance against the Taliban” throughout the US withdrawal in 2021. But because the Taliban consolidated energy, it was clear Wasi Safi could be at excessive threat due to his work with the US particular operations group.
Sami Safi beforehand instructed Act Daily News that his brother acquired “multiple voicemails” whereas he was nonetheless in Afghanistan that stated his fellow Afghan service members had been being captured and killed by the Taliban.
So Wasi Safi started the journey to the US. The letter from the US veterans teams stated that he “traveled on foot or by bus through 10 countries, surviving torture, robbery, and attempts on his life, to seek asylum in the United States from the threat on his life and expecting a hero’s welcome from his American allies.” Instead, he was apprehended by Border Patrol and has been of their custody since.
And whereas the fees towards him had been dropped, the street for Wasi Safi and his brother will not be over.
Cervantes has requested that Customs and Border Patrol drops its retainer on Wasi Safi earlier than he’s transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. The detainer is “fairly common,” she stated, as a result of CBP “want him to be transferred to ICE and do a credible fear interview.”
“Right now, we’re kind of going back and forth between CBP – I’m asking CBP to release their detainer and actually issue him an OAR parole (an immigration status for Afghan migrants), which is what the United States issues to most Afghans that they brought in because I think that’s the right thing to do in this case,” Cervantes stated. “However, if they don’t do that, he’ll be transferred to ICE custody, and we’ll be trying to get him released from ICE.”
She added that she doesn’t have “any doubt” that Wasi Safi will be capable of move the credible concern interview.
“We’ll hopefully be able to get him released from all custody here shortly,” Cervantes stated, “and that the government will really see not only his service to the United States – Wasi worked in counterterrorism, so he was trying to prevent terrorist attacks. So not only will they hopefully see that, but also again the threat to his life.”
Sami Safi stated his brother’s immigration standing is the subsequent hurdle that he’s going to start out engaged on instantly.
“The biggest challenge that I have to now start working on would be his immigration status – what status America is willing to give him with all his sacrifice,” he stated.