ITHACA, N.Y. — The case for the former Afghan interpreter, who has been trying to escape Pakistan with the help of a Cornell University student, has been denied. But, he and those helping him are still hopeful he will make it to safety.
Over the summer, The Ithaca Voice reported the story of Muhammad Kamran*, his wife and four young daughters. Muhammad, from Afghanistan, worked as an interpreter for U.S. forces for nearly 10 years. When the Taliban began sending him threats and being an interpreter became too dangerous, he fled to Pakistan with his family, where they remain in hiding.
For nearly a year, Cornell University Ph.D. student Kristy Perano has been advocating to get Muhammad into the U.S. Her family in California has agreed to co-sponsor Muhammad and his family if they are approved to come to the United States. He also has a brother and sister living in the U.S.
Related: Former Afghan interpreter hopes to find sanctuary in U.S. with help of Cornell student
Perano, working with a Seattle-based lawyer, helped Muhammad and his family apply for humanitarian parole, which temporarily allows people into the U.S. if they have a compelling reason. The office of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services considers each case to decide if there are “urgent humanitarian or significant public benefit reasons” to let the person in. Muhammad has also tried to come to the U.S. as a refugee, but that case was denied, too.
Perano and her lawyer, Danielle Rosché, felt Muhammad and his family had a strong case because he is in danger directly due to his service to the United States. When the case came back denied after two days of consideration, Perano said she was not only surprised, but very upset.
“All my family is asking for is permission to pay all the expenses and assume all the liability to save the lives of a young family who lost everything because of their service to the U.S. military. The humanitarian visas provide a weak and temporary status for someone whose life is in imminent danger. I don’t see how the humanitarian aspects of this case could be any more compelling. The Taliban is hunting Muhammad, and it is only a matter of time before they find him. If they find him, they will torture and murder him and his daughters will end up on the streets or in human trafficking,” Perano said.
Thousands of people across the country have taken interest in Muhammad’s case. A petition Perano created on Change.org has more than 19,000 signatures as of Wednesday, including dozens from Ithaca. The petition calls on people to reach out to USCIS and and ask them to re-open Muhammad’s case.
Asked how many people have reached out to USCIS Chief John Bird regarding Muhammad’s case, a spokesperson for USCIS said they cannot comment on individual cases.
It was not just Muhammad’s case that was denied, it was his whole family’s, including his daughters who are between the ages of 2 and 8.
Instead of sending one case for the whole family, Rosché sent individual cases for Muhammad, his wife and four children. All of the cases were denied as a “matter of security concern” without further specifics. In an interview with The Ithaca Voice, Rosché said she was particularly concerned that USCIS would deny the children, including Muhammad’s 2-year-old daughter.
“We’re concerned about what possible security concerns they could have regarding a 2-year-old child,” Rosché said.
If the children were approved to come to the U.S. without their parents, they could live with Muhammad’s brother in Georgia.
When Rosché emailed USCIS Chief John Bird directly asking about the wife and children’s cases, Bird responded that after reaching out to refugee experts, “the information relating to the denial of the refuge application concerns the principle, his wife and the daughters. I therefore confirm that we will not reopen this case, and our denial is final,” the email stated.
While Rosché works on finding more information about why the cases were denied, Perano has been trying to get support from members of Congress. She and others have reached out to Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, as well as Congressman Tom Reed. She has also been in contact with representatives in California, including Rep. John Garamendi, who has been the most responsive so far. Garamendi has asked his staff to write a letter in support of Muhammad, Perano said.
Perano believes politics and general anti-Muslim sentiment played a role in the case being denied. She said Muhammad’s case is an opportunity for Congress to investigate USCIS’s treatment of Muslim refugees.
“We hope someone from Congress will start a Congressional investigation and subpoena Mr. Bird’s testimony to come tell Congress why Afghan toddlers are a threat to national security. Someone should ask Mr. Bird if toddlers on the ‘good guy countries’ list, such as Norwegian toddlers, could also be a national security concern,” Perano said.
Muhammad’s case has also been endorsed by No One Left Behind, an organization that advocates for interpreters who have served American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. In a newsletter in December, No One Left Behind called the decision to not admit Muhammad’s young daughters, “outrageous and heartbreaking.”
In a previous interview with The Ithaca Voice, Trevor Railey, who was director of Operation Lost in Translation, an arm of No One Left Behind, estimated there are about 13,000 interpreters who are trying to find a way out of Afghanistan. He said if an interpreter is caught by the Taliban, it’s an automatic death sentence.
“I can’t stress enough the danger these guys are in,” Railey said. “The men and women and even their children are in due to their service to this country.”
The news was hard for Muhammad, but he says he is still hopeful. He is still hiding in Pakistan unable to work or leave the house unless it is to hide when police come to search the neighborhood. Perano and her family keep in regular contact with Muhammad and his family. They text at least twice a day and sometimes do encrypted video calls — though she said 2-year-old Aysha doesn’t quite understand the concept of a video call.
“She keeps telling me and my dad to ‘come out’ of the phone and often tries to offer some enticement like sharing a piece of candy or a toy,” Perano said. “She also thinks we should share food with her and once got rather upset when I showed her a banana on the video call but didn’t give it to her. She announced that I was not her friend anymore since I was not sharing the banana. She forgave me after a couple of days though.”
The situation continues to worsen for Afghan interpreters in Pakistan. Muhammad has had three police encounters in three months, Perano said. In October, Muhammad was badly beaten in front of his family. Last month, he and his wife were beaten with sticks.
Moving forward, there is the possibility of USCIS reopening Muhammad and his family’s cases. Perano and Rosché are currently working on this route. Another possibility is another country, like Canada, requesting his previous refugee case from the United Nations.
Other options are available, but not timely. He could apply for a Special Immigrant Visa, but they are limited and could take several years. Muhammad also has a brother and sister in the U.S. who could sponsor him for a green card, but that is also a lengthy process. A last resort will be to try to find human smugglers to take Muhammad and his family to a less-dangerous country, Perano said.
Perano said she remains hopeful that the decision by USCIS can be overturned with enough pressure.
Read more about Muhammad’s background, family and service in the original story here.
*When The Ithaca Voice first published Muhammad’s story, he and others thought it would be too dangerous to use his full name. He has since given permission to The Ithaca Voice and other publications to use his name.