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immigration law
ABA helps Afghan evacuees stranded in Abu Dhabi and other parts of the world find permanent homes
Jordan Jones is a volunteer lawyer who works with the ABA’s Afghanistan Response Project, helping Afghan judges, prosecutors and other rule of law professionals relocate from UAE humanitarian cities into welcoming jurisdictions.
Following the first anniversary of the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on August 15, ABA Journal highlights the ABA’s efforts to help Afghan judges, lawyers and others resettle, access immigration benefits and use their legal skills to get jobs. This is the third part of our series.
Qari Abeera Ziayi has lived in Herat, Afghanistan for about eight years, handling hundreds of cases involving violence against women and children, criminal and civil issues, and divorce.
In addition to being a lawyer, she advocates for human rights and serves as a university professor. She also volunteered to help disabled children and underprivileged women in schools through the art of hand embroidery.
“Since childhood I wanted to serve society and people honestly, and I found lawyers to be a field that could connect me to my dreams,” Ziayi said. “So I chose the field of law, and I’ve served people a lot through the law for a long time.”
Because of her work, Ziayi was targeted by the Taliban even before Kabul fell in August 2021. Members of the group threatened her and repeatedly attacked her and her family. They threw grenades and bombs at the home. They broke the windows of their home and car. They also beat her elderly father.
When the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Qiyi felt he had no choice but to flee.
“I hid in a dark room, away from the sun, for three months in the city of Kabul, where terrorists went around looking for and killing me,” she said. “They called me several times and tried to track me down, but I changed places a few times. The Taliban were looking for me everywhere.”
Ziayi left her country in October 2021 and was taken to the UAE Humanitarian City through a foreign organisation helping female lawyers at risk in Afghanistan. The makeshift camp, run by the United Arab Emirates government, houses thousands of evacuated Afghans.
There, Ziayi eventually met Jordan Jones, a volunteer attorney working with the ABA. Afghanistan Response Project Helping Afghan judges, prosecutors and other rule of law professionals move from UAE humanitarian cities into welcoming jurisdictions.Jones is the firm’s director of legal affairs Humanitarian Legal Aid Program in Washington D.C.
Afghan refugee Qari Abeera Ziayi said: “Since I was a child, I wanted to serve the society and people honestly, and I found lawyers to be a field where my dreams could come true.”
ABA links Afghan evacuees stranded in Abu Dhabi with pro bono lawyers
Jones travels to the UAE with David Dettman, Director of Outreach and Communications at the ABA Global Program Center and Coordinator of the Afghanistan Response Program, and other ABA staff and volunteers first March.
As part of a new initiative, they established an intake process to screen Afghan evacuees; determine which countries are best for them; and match them with pro bono lawyers in those countries. They worked with about 250 Afghans and began evaluating their chances of moving to the United States.Their options include applying humanitarian paroleor if they previously worked for the U.S. government, they can apply for a special immigrant visa.
In July, Jones traveled to the UAE alone for the second time and spent a week meeting with hundreds of Afghan legal professionals. Some are the judges who put Taliban members in jail, while many others are prosecutors and lawyers who have spoken out against the group.
“These people have such a wealth of experience and professionalism, and they have ties to America,” Jones said. “They have studied in the US, some have an LLM degree in the US, some have family members in the US
“They risked their lives to help us put Taliban fighters in jail, ISIS fighters in jail through the legal system, and establish the rule of law in Afghanistan. And now they’re just sitting in the EHC, they don’t even have a job.”
Jones found female judges and unaccompanied female lawyers, including Ziyi.
Ziayi has lived in the humanitarian city of the UAE for over nine months. She worries about her family and her own future still trapped in Afghanistan. She struggled with depression and thyroid disease, which she said worsened while she was at the camp.
“It was very difficult for me to live in the United Arab Emirates because my family was not there and our fate was unknown, how and when I would leave that camp,” said Ziayi, who has decided to resettle in the United States. “I think America is a noble and advanced country where I can get a better education, a better job, a more peaceful life, and a great opportunity to serve its people.”
Jones advocated for Ziayi to be granted port parole, which U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials could grant to vulnerable and high-risk populations at ports of entry. She explained that Abu Dhabi is one of 16 locations outside the United States serving as a port of entry, and the only one where a refugee camp for Afghans has been set up.
“Unlike humanitarian parole through their partner agency, [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services]port parole is free, and CBP officers can decide for themselves whether to grant or not after an interview,” Jones said, adding that humanitarian parole applications have taken more than a year to adjudicate due to a backlog of cases.
CBP agreed to Ziayi’s request. She entered the United States in August, first living in a refugee processing camp in Leesburg, Virginia, and then being transferred to Buffalo, New York. Jones is now assisting her with her asylum application.
ABA plans to continue working with Afghan evacuees in other parts of the world
Over the past year, Detman has seen a sharp drop in the number of Afghan evacuees trapped in humanitarian cities in the UAE, from about 14,000 to about 4,000.
“This is due to a broad coalition of pro bono lawyers, NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] and activists working with Afghans on the ground while advocating for the acceptance of evacuees within many host governments,” Detman said.
Dettman estimates that Jones and other pro bono lawyers affiliated with the Afghanistan Response Project have helped around 500 evacuees in the camps since their first visit to the humanitarian city in the UAE. But, he said, many Afghans are still struggling in other countries and need help to be permanently resettled.
“The most pressing challenge for this project is that the news cycle has started, and many Afghan evacuees have not,” Detman said. “There are still tens of thousands of Afghans who find themselves without permanent citizenship. While Afghans in the EHC are finally starting to migrate, we must not forget those who are still stranded in third countries or, more urgently, still in hiding in Afghanistan people.”
The Afghanistan Response Project plans to use the reception process developed by Emirates Humanitarian City to help other Afghan evacuees in similar situations around the world, and more pro bono lawyers are needed to assist in this effort. Detman demanded their time and patience, as Afghans must navigate a complex and changing immigration system.
However, Dettman added that the Afghanistan Response Project and its three lines of work are an amazing example of what the ABA and its members can do.
“In my opinion, helping Afghans seek refuge abroad, providing immigration assistance to those in need here, and helping settled legal professionals find meaningful employment are the ABA at its best,” he said. “While working on a project like this can be very frustrating, the courage and determination we saw in the Afghan evacuees, and the selfless spirit from pro bono lawyers and others, still inspires me.”
Ziayi hopes her family can leave Afghanistan and go to the United States with her. She also hopes to return to Virginia, where the weather is warm, to study law so she can continue her career.
“My hope for the next generation and for the people of the world is peace, justice, progress and security,” Ziayi said. “I hope to continue my studies in the U.S., get my bar license again, become a member of the ABA in the near future, teach at a university, and have many more wonderful goals in these fields.”
Attorneys interested in volunteering with the Afghanistan Response Project should contact Dettman directly: [email protected].
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Advocates are helping Afghans apply for asylum and other immigration relief with the help of the ABA”
ABAJournal.com: “ABA program aims to help Afghan legal professionals gain a foothold in the United States”
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