An Afghan man who risked his life to help the U.S. fight terrorism was detained and set for deportation Wednesday, a day after he was supposed to be resettled in Akron.
Before President Donald Trump’s revamped travel ban on Muslim-majority countries was to take effect Thursday, the Washington Post reported that the man was to be deported by the Department of Homeland Security, which detained him upon arrival Monday night at Newark International Airport in New Jersey.
One of the man’s attorneys, Elizabeth Foydel, a lawyer for the International Refugee Assistance Project, detailed the scenario to the Washington Post, which reported this as the second time a refugee granted a visa for assisting U.S. troops has been threatened with deportation this month.
As was the case with a family of five scheduled for deportation back to Afghanistan earlier this month, a federal judge has intervened to stop the removal of the Afghani man who was supposed to be in Akron this week.
Foydel would not provide the Afghani man’s name. But the International Institute of Akron confirmed that bad weather prevented the man from boarding a plane earlier in the week and arriving in Akron on Tuesday. His rescheduled flight arrival on Thursday would have marked the beginning of a new life in America in exchange for the services he provided its troops in Afghanistan.
The man worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military, earning him a Special Immigrant Visa through a program created in 2007 to allow Iraqi and Afghani nationals who assist in the war effort to come to America as refugees. Other refugees here through the program have told the Akron Beacon Journal/Ohio.com that they will not serve again or attempt to travel with Trump’s executive orders ramping up immigration enforcement and blocking entry at airports.
DHS agents with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol detained the man for 36 hours. After questioning, a government official told the Washington Post that he relinquished his visa and was scheduled to return to Afghanistan. His lawyers, including Foydel, argued that he spoke poor English and was coerced out of his rights. They requested and received a temporary stay of deportation on Wednesday from the 3rd District Court of Appeals.
Also on Wednesday, U.S. Sens Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), John McCain (R-AZ), Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced bipartisan legislation to add 2,500 spots to the Special Immigrant Visa program
“We simply cannot win this war without the assistance of the Afghan people who put their lives on the line to help American troops and diplomats serving in harm’s way,” McCain said in jointly announcing the legislation. “Unfortunately in recent years, Congress has reneged on the promise we made to protect these brave individuals by failing to authorize the appropriate number of Special Immigrant Visas for Afghan translators and interpreters. It’s because of our failure that the lives of thousands of Afghans are in imminent danger from the Taliban.”
Turned away
Elizabeth Walter with the International Institute of Akron said workers there were expecting the man Thursday after a winter storm this week had grounded flights along the eastern seaboard.
“The client was scheduled to arrive in Akron on Tuesday,” Walters said. “But those flights were proactively rescheduled due to weather and his arrival was rescheduled.”
Walters and the Institute could not comment specifically about the Afghani man’s case. Refugees who come through the North Hill facility typically undergo an 18- to 24-month screening process. This includes Special Immigrant Visa refugees who assist U.S. troops.
Before refugees land in Northeast Ohio, the agency’s resettlement services secures an apartment or rental house, usually in North Hill so that refugee have easy access to ongoing assistance and consultation services. The apartments are usually furnished by donated goods and stocked with foods that match the culture of the incoming refugee or family.
Marion Goins Leon, an Ohio man and former soldier and contractor with the U.S. military, had sponsored the Afghani man’s successful application for resettlement in America, just as he had for 10 other interpreters who volunteered their services to fight the Taliban.
“He’s the first one they did this to,” Leon told the Washington Post of the man’s detainment and the government’s attempt to deport him.
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .