Hi Everyone, The Biden Admin is accelerating the US military’s full withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the Taliban is rapidly increasing their military offensives and taking over territory as the US is leaving. More US military interpreters have been killed in recent weeks. Please take action to immediately urge the Biden Admin to evacuate US military interpreters to Guam or another safe location to continue processing their visas. This is the only option left that can get them out in time.

Veterans for American Ideals has put together a campaign that literally takes one minute to urge President Biden and your representatives in Congress to step up.

Vets for American Ideals | Combined Campaign: Save our SIVs (quorum.us)

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service also has a tool to write President Biden and a toolkit you can download.

Join LIRS in Calling on President Biden to Protect Afghan Allies

Other countries like the UK have stepped up to evacuate their interpreters, but the Biden Admin has not yet taken any steps to protect Afghan US military interpreters who are being left behind to be killed by the Taliban. Afghan refugees are not welcome anywhere unless they can financially support themselves, which most cannot afford to do. It is unconscionable to leave them behind to be killed by the same terrorists that they helped us fight.

The Kamran family is still alive but still in hiding and in critical danger. They have already fled Afghanistan and are living in hiding in Pakistan. They are in critical danger there and have faced repeated assaults and beatings from Pakistani security forces, including the young girls being tortured by the Pakistani military recently. As many of you know, bipartisan members of Congress, led by Congressman Jamie Raskin, sent letters to the Trump Admin three times asking about the Kamran family’s case. But Congress was stonewalled for three years. The Biden Admin still has not addressed this issue, and Congress continues to wait for answers. Although the public does not have access to meet with members of Congress and their staff in person anymore, we are trying to set up a Zoom meeting with Congressman Raskin’s staff to ask them to send a new letter about this issue to the Biden Admin.

Also in some good news, we recently found an attorney who is willing to work pro bono to reapply for emergency humanitarian visas for the family. So my family will try again to sponsor the Kamran family for humanitarian parole. (We tried this four years ago and the Trump Admin denied the cases without bothering to read them. We hope that the Biden Admin will be more interested in helping this family.) We will need to raise $4000 for the filing fees for the case though since USCIS charges per person for this type of case even though they evaluate them all as a family. Please consider donating to our Go Fund Me that contributes to the Kamran Family’s living expenses and filing fees for their case: Fundraiser by Kristy Perano : Save Aysha and her Family (gofundme.com)

We are also working with some friends in Canada to set up a private sponsorship to Canada for the family. Canada has accepted many refugees who were not able to get to the US, so our friends in Canada are very optimistic that this could be a solution for the Kamran family. We are have written the case for Canada already but need more volunteers to help the family resettle, especially in the Niagara Falls area or the Toronto area. We need at least five people in same geographical area, and we already have two each in Niagara Falls and Toronto areas. If you are a Canadian citizen or legal resident or have friends who are, please consider volunteering to join a Group of 5 to help resettle the Kamran family in Canada. We can’t proceed with that case until we find an organization or at least 5 individuals to help the family resettle. Please email me (save.aysha at gmail.com) if you would like more information about this.

Thank you for taking action to help save our Afghan allies.

Best,

Kristy Perano