<\/p>\n
Afghan resident Sami Ghairatmal looks out a window at his home on Dec. 17 in Schenectady. Ghairatmal, a former journalist, is among the 7,500 Afghans who have relocated to New York to seek asylum since 2021.<\/p>\n
Lori Van Buren\/Times Union<\/p>\n
After the Taliban took over Kabul following the retreat of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, journalist Sami Ghairatmal began receiving threats.<\/p>\n
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At the time, he led a local chapter of NAI, an organization supporting independent media<\/a> in Afghanistan, where he taught young journalists\u00a0\u2014 men and women\u00a0\u2014 about the importance of freedom of speech and democracy in an area frequently targeted by the Taliban. He previously worked for Al Jazeera and a radio station broadcasting in U.S. Army-controlled Kandahar airspace, as well as with different media projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Because of this, Ghairatmal was a target. The Taliban accused his organization in one press release of \u201cdestroying islamic values,\u201d \u201cspreading obscenity\u201d and broadcasting \u201cin favor of (American) invaders.\u201d<\/p>\n The release included a direct threat: \u201cHe will take responsibility for any subsequent decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n Ghairatmal, his wife and his five children went into hiding, and in December 2021, they were evacuated by the National Endowment for Democracy. They went to Qatar, then to America, landing at a New Jersey air base. They eventually made it to Schenectady, where Ghairatmal had friends who had also worked with the U.S. Army.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Make the Times Union a Preferred Source on Google to see more of our journalism when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Ghairatmal\u2019s current job as a delivery driver involves fewer risks than being a journalist in Afghanistan. But now, a new kind of fear has taken hold.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were scared, there, of the Taliban. But here, we don\u2019t have good sleep (because of) ICE. My daughter is always crying. She says, \u2018Why (is) our life like this? We need a good life. We need to sleep good,\u2019\u201d Ghairatmal said.<\/p>\n Ghairatmal and his family are among the 7,500 Afghans who have relocated to New York seeking asylum since 2021. Many have resettled upstate, where they\u2019ve rebuilt their lives, found work and enrolled their children in school.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But for many, whatever tenuous sense of security they\u2019ve found has vanished as a result of a renewed crackdown on Afghans by President Donald Trump’s administration after two National Guard members were shot in Washington, D.C., allegedly by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan refugee who entered the country during Joe Biden\u2019s presidency and was granted asylum earlier this year.<\/p>\n Trump called the shooting a \u201cterrorist attack\u201d and criticized the Biden administration for not properly vetting Afghans who worked with U.S. forces during the Afghanistan War. Many Afghans were key allies of American troops throughout the war, which started in 2001. But the president paused the refugee resettlement program on his first day back in office.<\/p>\n In response to the National Guard shooting, the government also paused asylum applications, green cards, visas and other immigration cases<\/a> for migrants from Afghanistan and 18 other \u201chigh-risk\u201d countries that had already been included in a June travel ban. On Dec. 16, the administration expanded the travel ban to several other African and Middle Eastern nations and began reviewing security and vetting protocols for those countries.<\/p>\n The crackdown is characteristic of Trump\u2019s second term, which has been marked by aggressive immigration reform after illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border soared above 2 million in each of the final two years\u00a0of the Biden administration. The president\u2019s policy has included a surge of ICE arrests as part of a mass deportation plan, bolstered border enforcement, restrictions on legal and humanitarian immigration pathways, and efforts to end birthright citizenship and ramp up denaturalization. The administration has touted these policies as the key to making the country safer.\u00a0Illegal border crossings this year fell to their lowest level since 1970<\/a>, according to Homeland Security data.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n ICE is on track to arrest twice as many people in New York this year compared to last year<\/a>. Nationwide, more than 65,000 are in ICE custody and nearly 300,000 have been deported this year, The Guardian reported<\/a>. The agency has regularly arrested immigrants<\/a> in their homes, during traffic stops, at their jobs, at immigration offices, at state prisons, at local jails, at police stations and at probation offices.<\/p>\n While the majority of the arrests have been of Latino men and women, arrests of Afghan immigrants<\/a> also spiked. Some detentions include women from the Hazara community, an ethnic and religious group that is \u201cthe single most vulnerable category of people among Afghan nationals,\u201d said Shala Gafary, managing attorney of special projects at Human Rights First, who has provided legal assistance to newly arrived Afghans since 2021.<\/p>\n Afghans were already being rounded up before the government stopped processing their immigration claims. In one of the most high-profile cases in New York this year, New Paltz resident and Bard College student Ali Faqirzada was arrested after completing a credible fear interview<\/a> at a Long Island asylum office in October. He remains in ICE custody in Newark, N.J., while his attorneys challenge his detention in immigration court<\/a>. His previously scheduled appearance before an immigration judge was postponed to early next year.<\/p>\n In the Albany area, at least a dozen Afghan men with pending asylum claims have been arrested and detained by ICE in the last two weeks, according to Yousaf Sherzad, acting president of the Afghan American Community Center in Albany. Others are being summoned to sudden immigration check-ins across the state, giving way to\u00a0emotional scenes<\/a> outside federal buildings. Some have been called in to the ICE office at Federal Plaza in New York City so the government can collect new photos and \u201cbiometrics\u201d on them.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Roman Mohammadi, 12, cries during an emotional interview with the press outside the Malta U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Dec. 8. His family had an interview with ICE inside.<\/p>\n Lori Van Buren\/Times Union<\/p>\n ICE has also conducted a few mass\u00a0worksite raids in New York. The largest happened on Sept. 4<\/a>, when federal agents apprehended 57 people at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners plant in Cato, a small Cayuga County town. At least six of the workers have been released with valid asylum claims or other legitimate immigration statuses, but others are still detained and 18 have been deported, according to attorneys and advocates. Five were charged with reentering the country after a prior removal, a felony. Some of those scooped up in the raid are challenging the raid in the courts.<\/p>\n \u201cThere seems to be an irrefutable sense of the fact that ICE officers are getting instructions to detain every single Afghan they can,\u201d\u00a0Gafary said. \u201cIt\u2019s really been very disheartening. (Afghans) are confused as to what to do. They\u2019re confused as to the attitude and approach that the U.S. government is now, unfortunately, taking with them. They\u2019ve come to accept that they\u2019re now suspects just by virtue of the passport that they hold.\u201d<\/p>\n Many immigrants\u00a0\u2014 even some who are in the United States legally\u00a0\u2014 continue to be scared<\/a> to go to work, take their children to school, or visit the doctor for fear of being detained. Across the state, immigrant families have been separated<\/a> and lost loved ones and their only breadwinners. Others have decided to self-deport. But many are riding it out.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u2018Home is prison\u2019<\/p>\n Among Afghans who helped the United States, there is a feeling of betrayal.<\/p>\n A 25-year-old Afghan man living in Albany, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said the Taliban killed his father, grandfather and other members of his family. He and his immediate family hid for months following the fall of Kabul, fearing that if they were found, they\u2019d be tortured and killed because of his service in the Afghan Air Force, where he worked closely with the U.S. military and NATO forces.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were in the same camp, and we were working together. We were eating food together, we had parties, missions together \u2026 we were like brothers, like family,\u201d the man said of his relationship with U.S. troops in Afghanistan, some of whom he\u2019s still in touch with.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The man and his family fled the country in late 2022 and went to Brazil before eventually making their way to the U.S.-Mexico border, where they asked for asylum. They settled in Albany and relied on the local U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants for pro bono legal assistance. But this year, the organization lost federal aid<\/a> for programs to help newly arrived refugees.<\/p>\n Now, the man and his family are afraid of going outside, worried they will be arrested and deported to a country where they don\u2019t feel safe. He and his 23-year-old brother are the only ones who can work.<\/p>\n \u201cEmotionally, we are under torture,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they send us back, we will be killed by the Taliban. Right now, we feel like home is prison.\u201d<\/p>\n He and other Afghans the Times Union interviewed condemned the shooting of the two National Guard members and expressed frustration that the actions of one individual were impacting an entire nationality.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe all were sad about what happened and we share our condolences with that family,\u201d the man said. \u201cEven if a bad person does something wrong, it doesn\u2019t mean to punish all of society. \u2026 We are not here for making a headache. We are here to take our part in making society better.\u201d<\/p>\n While Afghans are the latest community to be targeted, \u201cit\u2019s important to remember that all immigrants are at risk because of the cruel policies of the current federal regime,\u201d Daniel Butterworth, the executive director of Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus<\/a> in Albany, said.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of our Afghan neighbors are here because of their service to our country, making this latest ICE crackdown all the more heartbreaking. The Capital Region is and has always been a welcoming community. If we want it to remain that way, it\u2019s our collective responsibility to recognize our shared humanity, honor the immigrant heroes in our own lives, and stand in solidarity to support our neighbors who are most vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n Since 2021, Hearts & Homes for Refugees<\/a> has welcomed 480 Afghans resettled in New York through government programs, including some who aided American troops and were evacuated, said Kathie O\u2019Callaghan, president and founder of the Westchester County-based nonprofit.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe made a promise to give them a life of safety and dignity. We have failed to keep that promise for thousands of those Afghans,\u201d O\u2019Callaghan said. \u201cWhat we are witnessing right now is a profound and growing sense of fear and uncertainty among Afghan families in New York. Trump\u2019s policy shifts are retraumatizing people who believed they were finally safe\u00a0\u2014 disrupting family reunification, stability and the ability to plan for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n More than 190,000 Afghans have resettled in the U.S. since 2021 through programs created by Biden to assist U.S. allies fleeing the Taliban, according to\u00a0a report<\/a> published this year by the U.S. Department of State. In 2022, the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security found the U.S. government did not always have critical data to properly screen, vet or inspect<\/a> about 80,000 of those evacuees.<\/p>\n Former Biden administration officials have disputed that claim. O\u2019Callaghan said that Afghan families went through years of \u201cthe strictest possible vetting\u201d and arrived through lawful pathways. Gafary added that before entering the country, every Afghan stopped at a U.S. military air base, where they went through background checks and medical tests.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery one of our clients is very eager to follow all the laws,\u201d Gafary said. \u201cThey really want to have their day in court to be able to share the reasons for their fear and their persecution, because they understand that their claims are that strong.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Anxiety has also spread among Afghans whose asylum cases have been approved and, in some cases, have obtained lawful permanent residency and even become naturalized citizens. Last month, the Trump administration announced a review of green cards issued to individuals who migrated to the U.S. from the 19 countries \u201cof concern.\u201d The government is also planning to ramp up efforts to strip some naturalized Americans of their citizenship starting next year, according to guidance given to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that also asks that the agency pursue a minimum of 100 to 200 denaturalization cases per month, the New York Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Zarlasht Sarmast, an Afghan scholar and employee at Bard College who received her green card in March, said she was considering changing her travel plans to see her mother in Germany for the holidays.<\/p>\n When the Taliban took over Kabul, Zarlasht Sarmast was studying at the American University of Central Asia\u00a0in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, which partners with Bard College. She was part of the college\u2019s evacuation efforts and played an important role in evacuating more than 370 Afghan students, which inspired her to write two books about the experience.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Zarlasht Sarmast<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m worried that when I go to (John F. Kennedy International Airport) this time, it might not be like the previous times. They might not just check my green card and let me go. They might be like, \u2018We have to question you,\u2019\u201d Sarmast said. \u201cI\u2019m afraid of missing my flight. I\u2019m worried about not seeing my mom. And I\u2019m worried that even if I go and see her, I\u2019m not going to be fully present in my trip, because I will worry about what will happen when I come back.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Sarmast worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan and was part of several peace-building projects. She never wanted to leave her home, but is holding out hope for the future.<\/p>\n \u201cNow that I\u2019m here without it being my choice, I\u2019m still trying my best to offer something good to the community,\u201d she said. \u201cThat should also be seen and echoed, just like this individual\u2019s actions are being generalized onto the whole Afghan community, because there are so many more good Afghans compared to that one person who did something bad.\u201d<\/p>\n Pushback against Trump\u2019s immigration policy changes<\/p>\n While immigration has been a key issue for Trump since he entered the national political arena, public sentiment turned against the president this year, with Americans now saying they see the administration\u2019s approach to immigration more negatively than positively<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In upstate New York, communities mobilized<\/a> to protect their immigrant neighbors from ICE, connecting them with legal and basic services, conducting know-your-rights workshops and forming rapid response teams to alert others about ICE and gather information about detainees to notify their families. When people were in ICE custody, locals raised thousands of dollars<\/a> for legal defense and organized public events<\/a> to voice support.<\/p>\n Immigration raids and mass deportations were also at the center of hundreds of \u201cNo Kings\u201d protests<\/a> across the nation in June and October. Meanwhile, already overwhelmed immigrant-support groups struggled to keep up with the demand for legal and basic emergency services<\/a>.<\/p>\n A Troy resident describes how here husband was detained in August in Albany by immigration authorities on Sept. 5 outside Troy City Hall.<\/p>\n H. Rose Schneider\/Times Union<\/p>\n Response to the influx of migrants and the surge of ICE arrests created thorny issues in state government. Gov. Kathy Hochul has tried to maintain a balanced political posture, highlighting her support for immigrants while also saying her administration will cooperate with ICE to deport criminals.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Some Democratic lawmakers have advocated for stronger legislation to prohibit state and local officials, including police, from sharing information or resources with federal immigration authorities. ICE\u2019s tactics\u00a0\u2014 particularly its use of masks\u00a0\u2014 were criticized by immigrant groups and some Democratic lawmakers, who have introduced a bill<\/a> in the state Legislature to prohibit law enforcement officers from wearing masks or plainclothes when interacting with the public.<\/p>\n Municipalities have approached immigration policy in starkly different ways. During the first Trump administration, Albany, Hudson, Kingston and Beacon were among upstate cities that adopted \u201csanctuary\u201d or \u201cwelcoming\u201d resolutions restricting police cooperation with ICE and barring municipal employees from inquiring about immigration status. (Some aspects of those resolutions were rendered moot by the state\u2019s passage of the Green Light Law.) Police departments in some cities have also not cooperated when federal immigration agents conduct operations in town, which has prompted ICE not to alert local law enforcement<\/a> before its agents show up<\/a>, as had been standard.<\/p>\n Others agreed to collaborate with ICE by signing 287(g) agreements, which allow ICE to deputize local law enforcement officers to perform specific federal immigration enforcement functions. At the start of 2025, only Rensselaer County had such an agreement in New York; now, 10 law enforcement agencies in eight counties<\/a> do, according to ICE data.<\/p>\n This year, the federal government increased its scrutiny of state and local governments concerning immigration. Among other moves, the Department of Agriculture requested data on the immigration status of SNAP recipients, prompting a lawsuit<\/a> over the \u201csovereign rights\u201d of states to shield such information from the federal government; the Department of Homeland Security sought information about registered voters in at least three upstate counties<\/a>, a move that alarmed election commissioners, who believed it was an attempt to support an unsubstantiated claim that undocumented immigrants are voting illegally; and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services halted naturalization ceremonies<\/a>,\u00a0reinstated them<\/a> after public and bipartisan outcry, and then canceled them again<\/a> under a different rationale.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In Schenectady, Ghairatmal\u2019s family has changed some aspects of their life, like reducing time spent outside and ordering groceries online. They worry that ICE will take him away. He\u2019s scared, too, but has to continue working while he grapples with complex emotions and awaits a decision on his asylum and Special Immigrant Visa applications, whenever that happens.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are human. We came here after 20 years of serving the U.S. government. We came here, but we don\u2019t have a normal life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, ICE wants to give me and my family back to them.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Afghan resident Sami Ghairatmal looks out a window at his home on Dec. 17 in Schenectady. Ghairatmal, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[30394,128,611,612,844,610,9,24,12,63,129,131,130,27536],"class_list":{"0":"post-81040","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-alco","9":"tag-bronx","10":"tag-hvexp","11":"tag-hvnews","12":"tag-latestnews","13":"tag-local","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-the-bronx","19":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","20":"tag-the-bronx-news","21":"tag-ulstco"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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