(PLYMOUTH, MA—WTIC News) After a prison visit with an Afghan interpreter being held without charges since his seizure by ICE agents last month in East Hartford, Sen. Richard Blumenthal said the man named "Zia” is hopeful for his release, but is sad and missing his wife and five children.
Blumenthal says an immigration hearing for Zia is set for September.
Zia is in the U.S. on a humanitarian parole visa and had just finished an appointment in the years-long process to get his Green Card when he was seized by masked agents.
“He has done nothing criminal,” says Blumenthal. “He has committed no offense against anyone. In fact… he’s done everything right. He served this country for four years in Afghanistan with a target on his back.”
“If he were sent back to Afghanistan, to quote him, ‘On the first day, they would chop my head off.’ And the same with all his family. And, the reason they would chop his head off is because he served America!”
Afghan allies like Zia are credited with saving the lives of U.S. troops during the war, but their promised welcome to the U.S. has been largely pulled by the Trump Administration. Zia and others been arrested for unknown reasons, and the White House ended operation Enduring Welcome and cut off TPS—Temporary Protected Status—for Afghan nationals.
The group Afghan Evac is trying to help America’s Afghan allies in the resettlement process. Appearing with Blumenthal at a press conference, Jessica Bradley Rushing of Afghan Evac highlighted a new program: They’re working with veterans groups to recruit U.S. veteran volunteers to go with Afghan allies on visits like the one that ended with Zia’s arrest:
“Battle Buddies enables U.S. veterans from any era to sign up to accompany our wartime allies to their immigration hearings. We are standing in solidarity with our wartime allies so they are not standing alone in courtrooms and in U.S. government facilities when they earned a pathway to immigration here.”
At their press conference, Blumenthal and Rep. Bill Keating (D-MA) said Zia is one of thousands who earned their right to safe haven in the U.S., where he was living in Connecticut with his family.
“He was doing everything right,” says Blumenthal. “The only reason he’s in that prison is because ICE has to make a quota.”