Help M's Family Fly to Safety

Dear friends and the Occidental community,

My name is Julia Carrigan, president of the Muslim Student Association at Occidental College, and I am raising money on behalf of a friend whose family, fleeing the Taliban, has recently been granted a visa to resettle in the United States. We need to raise about seven thousand dollars in the next few days in order to help their family reunite in LA. Names in this story have been kept confidential due to security reasons.

This is their story. In August 2021, When Taliban took control of Kabul, M, who worked with the US Embassy Missions under a subcontractor, faced a life threatening situation when some of his colleagues were killed, imprisoned, or airlifted.

M was forced into hiding in Kabul after receiving multiple written death threats in 2021 from a high-ranking Taliban official, as well as several repeated searches of his house. M, at the time was an SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) applicant and hoped he would be rescued and evacuated. But when that didn't happen, he escaped with his family to Pakistan through a tourist visa. He spent around two years in the country waiting for his case to be processed for resettlement to the US. The US embassy offered him little help.

M and his family were eventually granted Humanitarian Paroles to the United States which expires in about two weeks. To our surprise and dismay, Pakistani authorities are charging him about $1200 per person in penalties for having overstayed their visa in Pakistan before they are allowed to leave. Having depleted most of their resources in Pakistan, this has placed great burden on M to purchase flights to the US and fund his resettlement in Los Angeles where his family, an Oxy Student, lives.

We need around six to seven thousand dollars to purchase their flights from either Islamabad or Peshawar International airports to Los Angeles. Please know that if you have Air Miles to donate, that’s also perfect.

To prevent fees from GoFundMe, you can also send Air Miles and donations to (218 [phone redacted]) or [email redacted].

Please donate and share with your network. Your help is much appreciated. May God bless you for your generosity.