Hi Everyone, Thank you to all of you who have already contacted your representatives in Congress or sent letters to USCIS. Please continue to contact Congress and USCIS if you have not yet done so. Or if you contacted your members of Congress and didn’t hear back then you can follow up and send them the 4-min video or the new Ithaca Voice story (links below). This case is part of a national issue of abandoning interpreters, and it is Congress’s duty to hold USCIS accountable. The petition has been having a technical glitch for several weeks which prevents me from replying to your questions and comments. Change.org is trying to fix it soon. But if you posted a comment or questions on the petition or a petition update in the last few weeks, please email me instead so I can respond (save.aysha@gmail.com). We will be submitting a formal request to re-open the case in a few weeks, but USCIS won’t approve that unless they are under pressure since they have never questioned that the family is in critical danger. They just claim that giving a one-year visa to any family member, including Muhammad’s two-year-old daughter Aysha, is a threat to national security. (We had specifically requested just letting the kids come and live with their aunt and uncle in the US, but the Humanitarian Affairs Branch director “consulted with refugee experts” who advised him that even the young girls are a threat to national security.) However, USCIS has been pressured into approving previously denied cases of US military interpreters before, so there is hope. Please contact me at save.aysha@gmail.com if you have any questions or if your member of Congress sends you a form back to fill out. I will send you information and advice for filling out any forms you are sent. Templates for letters for your members of Congress and for USCIS are below. Here is a link to look up your Representative and Senators. https://whoismyrepresentative.com/ If you go to your member of Congress’s website and look under “Constituent Services” or “How Can I Help You?” then you can often find a tab “Help with a Federal Agency.” That may include an email address including the term “casework” which would be the best email to use. There is usually an online form you can fill out also. Please email me for the necessary information to fill out the form. Here is the link to the 4-min video about Muhammad’s life and current situation (also embedded in the main petition) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NowDUr1I2T8 And the Ithaca Voice published a new story last week, highlighting the absurdity of blacklisting a toddler, as USCIS has done in this case: https://ithacavoice.com/2018/02/case-denied-not-closed-fight-continues-afghan-interpreter-trying-escape-pakistan/ *Congressional Letter Template* [Date] [The Honorable (First Name, Last Name) United States House of Representatives/United State Senate Office Address City, State, Zip] Subject: Save Afghan US Military Interpreter and his Young Family in Imminent Danger Dear Representative/Senator ______________: My name is [ ]. As your constituent, I am asking for your assistance in helping save a former Afghan US military interpreter, Muhammad Kamran, and his wife and four young daughters. This case is one example of a national problem of USCIS policies that leave our allies behind to die. The Sacramento Bee recently published a story about a Cornell University PhD student, Kristy Perano, and her family's efforts to save the Kamran family. Mr. Kamran worked for nine years for several branches of the US military, including Special Forces. He was a highly valued interpreter, and he directly saved American soldiers' lives on multiple occasions. Because of his service to the US military in Afghanistan and his active recruitment of other interpreters, the Taliban tried to kill him several times. Mr. Kamran was eventually forced to flee Afghanistan and start living in hiding Pakistan in 2014. Unfortunately, in his rush to escape the Taliban, Muhammad left behind critical contact information for his US military supervisors and, consequently, lost all contact with the US military. Since the active support of a US military supervisor is needed for an SIV visa application, Muhammad was unable to start an SIV case, so he filed a refugee case with the United Nations in Pakistan on his own. The UN eventually forwarded his refugee case to the US, only for the US to deny his refugee case for “discretionary security reasons.” The legal standard of evidence for “discretionary security reasons” is very low so can be anything including having a distant relative who is deemed a security threat. Mr. Kamran requested legal help with the appeal to his refugee case from the non-profit No One Left Behind. Ms. Perano saw his request and started assisting with his refugee case but soon found out that the appeal had been denied also. She and her family decided to sponsor the Kamran family for humanitarian parole in a last-ditch effort to save their lives. The Perano family hired an experienced immigration attorney, Danielle Rosché, to file the case, reconnected with a former Navy Lieutenant, Karsten Daponte, who had personally worked with Muhammad, and collected over 12,000 signatures on a Change.org petition. But it was to no avail. USCIS first misplaced the cases for three weeks then denied the cases two days after starting to work on them. USCIS admits the family meets all the criteria for humanitarian parole. They denied the Kamran family's humanitarian parole cases for “discretionary reasons” simply because Mr. Kamran had been denied before as a refugee. This denial was also despite former Lieutenant Daponte's strong support for the Kamran family's humanitarian parole cases and his offer to meet with USCIS officials to tell them why he is confident of Muhammad’s trustworthiness. The lawyer for the case, Ms. Rosché, appealed to the director of the Humanitarian Affairs Branch of USCIS, John Bird, and asked him to personally review the cases. Since humanitarian parole requires a separate application for each family member, she asked Mr. Bird to at least let Muhammad's four young daughters, ages 2 to 9, come live with their aunt and uncle in the US, but he refused. Mr. Bird wrote an email to our lawyer making the absurd claim that the entire family is a threat to national security. Thus, USCIS has denied a one-year visa to a two-year-old child on national security grounds. Leaving this family behind is effectively a death sentence. With increasing hostilities between Pakistan, where Mr. Kamran and his family are living in hiding, and both the US and Afghanistan, it is only a matter of time before Mr. Kamran's true identity is discovered and he is tortured and murdered by the Pakistani military or turned over to the Taliban to be killed. His wife and young daughters will have no way to support themselves without him and could end up in human trafficking. I am asking Congressman/woman/Senator [ ] to personally contact Mr. Bird and request that he re-open and approve all of the family's cases. And I want Congressman/woman/Senator [ ] to demand answers from Mr. Bird on (1) how Mr. Bird can think that Mr. Kamran, who faithfully served the US military and saved American lives for 9 years, could possibly be a threat to national security (2) why Mr. Bird does not value the testimony former Lieutenant Daponte who personally knows Mr. Kamran and strongly supports his case, and (3) how Mr. Bird can possibly justify his claim that giving a temporary visa to a toddler is a threat to national security. Such policies mean that Muhammad's children were literally born with a death sentence. The real national security problem is the US military’s inability to recruit interpreters now because of USCIS policies that leave our allies behind to be killed by the same terrorists that we asked them to fight. For more specific information on Muhammad and his family’s cases, please contact my friend, Kristy Perano, whose family is sponsoring Muhammad and his family for humanitarian parole. Kristy can be reached at save.aysha@gmail.com. Karsten Daponte is also available to speak to or meet with any members of Congress interested in hearing why Mr. Daponte strongly supports Muhammad and family’s cases based on his interactions with Muhammad when they served together in Afghanistan. Sincerely, [Your name Your address Your City State, Zip Your phone number and/or e-mail] *USCIS Letter Template* Email to: HumanitarianParole@uscis.dhs.gov And/or mail to: DHS/USCIS/IO/Humanitarian Affairs Branch (HAB) Attn: Branch Chief Wally Bird 20 Massachusetts Ave., NW, 3rd Floor HAB Mail Stop 2100 Washington, DC 20529 Subject: Attn: Branch Chief Wally Bird re: Muhammad Kamran case Dear Mr. Bird, I am writing to you regarding your recent denial of Muhammad Kamran, a former US military interpreter, and his entire family for humanitarian parole. The Sacramento Bee recently wrote a story detailing your denial of Muhammad's entire family despite the efforts of Cornell University PhD student, Kristen Perano, and her family. Muhammad Kamran is a heroic US military interpreter who worked for several branches of the US military, including Special Forces, over the course of nine years. He had a stellar career and was a highly trusted and highly valued interpreter who directly saved American soldiers' lives. Nonetheless, you denied him and his entire family, claiming that they are a threat to national security. This is despite the testimony of Karsten Daponte, one of his former military supervisors who is vouching for Muhammad's trustworthiness. To claim Muhammad is a threat to national security implies that a highly trusted ally who worked extensively with the US military for a almost decade was actually a terrorist sympathizer, and the military didn't even realize it. Your denial of this family is effectively a death sentence. With increasing hostilities between Pakistan, where Mr. Kamran and his family are living in hiding, and both the US and Afghanistan, it is only a matter of time before Mr. Kamran's true identity is discovered and he is tortured and murdered by the Pakistani military or turned over to the Taliban to be killed. His wife and young daughters will have no way to support themselves and could end up in human trafficking. Yet you have left this whole family behind to die because you claim they are a threat to national security despite Muhammad's long career with the US military. You refused to even save his young daughters by allowing them to come live with their aunt and uncle in the US, saying that they are also a threat to national security. That is absurd to deny a one-year visa to a two-year-old child on national security grounds. This is a grievous injustice. I am part of a national effort to request you and your department to re-open and approve this entire family's cases. I am calling all of my representatives in Congress and asking them to investigate you and your department. I am also contacting my local and regional media and asking them to cover this story. [Your name (First and Last)] [Your City, State]