Humanitarian Parole for Afghans

Hi all - I've been working with Afghan organizers on a project called Project ANAR. It is focused on helping Afghans file expedited humanitarian parole applications -- we've put together training materials, resources, and guides, along with pairing up hundreds of Afghans in need with hundreds of volunteer attorneys. You can take a look at some of our work here: https://www.projectanar.org/ 

Now, we need help paying for the filing fees! Each applicant (even if they are part of the same family) must pay a $575 processing fee - for many Afghans, that means paying thousands of dollars for their families. We need your help! The funds will be funneled through Pangea Legal Services to the families in need and will help cover the filing fee and the mailing costs for applications. More information on Pangea and this project below. Thank you!

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Pangea (San Francisco/San Jose, CA) and Centro Legal (Oakland, CA) are working with Afghan community organizers to process hundreds of Afghan humanitarian parole requests. As you've seen on the news, the situation on the ground is that people are having a hard time getting to the airport and even once there, it's chaos. There are planes leaving and various task forces that have been stood up by the State Department and DOD to get individuals cleared for those planes.

Most organizations who are dedicated to Afghanistan right now are focusing on former American military people and their affiliates. We are focusing on everyone else. We have ~9000 humanitarian parole applicants and ~1100 attorneys from across the country offering to help. We organized a WebEx training on Monday 8/23 for the legal volunteers, and are reaching out to the people in Afghanistan to find out who has sponsors and is ready for a humanitarian parole application (https://www.projectanar.org/resources/parole-checklist). Our goal is to help as many sponsors as possible submit humanitarian parole applications (pro se) as quickly as possible to USCIS. Then, we plan to advocate directly with the State Department and DOD task forces to prioritize these applicants.

More information about Pangea Legal Services: Pangea's mission is to provide deportation defense services, advocate for policy change, and provide education and legal empowerment for our immigrant communities.

Photo credit: Khyber Khan. Instagram: @khyberkhan