A Diplomat in Diaspora
During *Jamil’s four months in immigration detention, he agonized constantly over the catastrophic events that forced him to flee his
country.
“In Afghanistan, I had a good life,” he shares. “But when the government collapsed, everything collapsed for me. I didn’t have a chance of surviving there, so I came here. I came to America.”
Jamil grew up as part of a new generation of young Afghans eager to build a bright future for their country by collaborating with the
international community. He was a child when NATO drove the Taliban out of power, and he was excited in the years that followed to see Western governments, UN agencies and NGO groups partner with the new Afghan government to build infrastructure, schools, and
new constitutional freedoms, including rights for women.
Inspired by the experiment in nation-building, Jamil attended an Afghan university to study political science and went on to work
in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As an entry-level diplomat, he reviewed incoming reports from Afghanistan’s ambassadors and diplomatic missions in Europe. He was on a path to be stationed abroad someday and attended trainings and conferences in Spain, the Netherlands, Russia, and at NATO’s headquarters in Belgium, making his friends and family proud.
Unfortunately, that work as a civil servant put Jamil in great danger when everything he worked for fell apart.
When the US military began withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in 2020, Jamil says everyone believed a peace deal would be brokered with the Taliban to form an all-inclusive government – one that would maintain freedom and security for those who did not adhere to the militant group’s strict rules. Sadly, no such alliance was formed. The Taliban overwhelmed Afghan security forces and
took over Kabul days before the US fully withdrew from Afghanistan suddenly, in August 2021.
Deadly bombings and gun attacks by ISIS added to the chaos. The entire city was filled with panic and mayhem, Jamil says, as the final US military planes took off filled to capacity with evacuees. While thousands were airlifted to safety as refugees, many more were left begging for protection at the airport. Jamil and family left their home in Kabul and went into hiding in the city. Women, children, LGBTQ people, educators, journalists, and people who worked for the collapsed Afghan government were especially vulnerable as the militant group
exerted its rule.
“It was a shock to everyone,” he says. “Nobody thought the US and NATO would ever abandon Afghanistan in the way that they did.”
The Taliban declared that Jamil and his colleagues in the Afghan foreign ministry were traitors and spies. He and his family went into hiding. “It was very dangerous,” he says. “I feared for my life. Every day could bring us new threats.”
Jamil’s relatives received knocks at their doors from militants looking for Jamil. He fled Kabul to hide in a small village but was quickly recognized as an outsider and narrowly evaded capture. It was easier to remain incognito in Kabul, he realized. Though eventually he had to leave Afghanistan entirely and find a new community where his family could join him later to live without fear of violence and persecution.
A Dangerous journey
Iran was the only place Jamil could travel to, though he’d heard that refugees were unwelcome there. He went to Turkey next and sought asylum with his diplomatic passport at several government offices. He was continually rejected, and it broke his heart, he says, to have his pleas to seek asylum ignored.
As his visa expired, Jamil flew to Brazil, which was the only country to offer a special humanitarian visa to Afghan refugees at the time. Arriving to São Paolo, Jamil witnessed a dire situation. Displaced Afghans were sleeping in the airport terminal for days and weeks for fear of exposure to criminal groups targeting them in the city. There was no assistance or resources for resettlement. “It was clear this was not a place to stay,” he says. He would migrate to seek asylum in the US.
Leaving Brazil with other migrants he befriended, Jamil crossed Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. In Panama, he survived a grueling trek through the mountains and rivers of the Darién Gap, a perilous crossing where migrants are known to succumb to exhaustion. Jamil witnessed death and feared it, he says. He crossed Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and then Mexico. The journey was so
harrowing, Jamil says, “As bad as things were in Afghanistan, if I didn’t have problems there, I would have wanted to go back.”
These dangers went beyond the difficult terrain. “While we were in Mexico,” Jamil adds, “a lot of my friends, other migrants, were injured or harmed by the traffickers and the other cartels and gangs in the areas we crossed through.”
Jamil tried, in Mexico City, to make an appointment to seek US asylum through Custom’s and Border Protection’s phone app, CBP One. None were available, as is often the case. He continued his journey north and finally reached a port of entry to Yuma, Arizona after midnight. The border was closed. A group of migrants huddled on the ground waiting for Border Patrol to arrive in the morning. Jamil joined them.
It was very cold. He says he got sick and still feels physically unwell from that first night shivering on the ground at the border. Still, he felt incredible relief when the sun rose and Border Patrol officers showed up and took their names to register them as asylum seekers.
“I felt completely different in that moment,” Jamil says. “Even though I understood it would be difficult—that there were going to be hardships—at least I was no longer in danger of being murdered or killed.
Seeking asylum inside detention
While his case was adjudicated, Jamil was held in an ICE detention center in rural Arizona. He had never been imprisoned before. The strict guards, harsh conditions, and rigid routines limiting movement between his cell, the common area, chow hall and outdoors felt dehumanizing, he says. The first few days were difficult, but he found other people who spoke his language and made new acquaintances. They recommended asking the Florence Project for support.
Jamil contacted our Detention Action and Response Team (DART). Since he had a straightforward case of political persecution, the team believed he could win representing himself with Florence Project support gathering materials such as letters from ambassadors and reports on the situation in Afghanistan supporting his claims.
DART attorney Daniela Ugaz and legal assistant Lizbeth Cortez held multiple appointments with Jamil to prepare his case materials and prepare him for court by going over questions he could expect to face. They also provided emotional accompaniment, showing up for moral support at the final hearing where Jamil was granted asylum.
“After about 120 days of crying and thinking about everything in detention, winning my case brought me such happiness,” he says. “When I was released and walked out of detention, it was a life-changing experience. I felt like I could live again, which was completely different from how I felt for the past two years. It was exhilarating and invigorating. It gave me hope that, hey, I can live again as a free man.”
Jamil has resettled in Virginia with an old friend from Afghanistan. Upon reunifying with this friend, his eyes widened with happiness, he says, and he literally felt joy in his heart. “It was a very emotional moment. I realized that the challenges of the past had been overcome. There was a future now to look toward.”
Jamil is now working to have his wife and children reunify with him and prioritizing “cultural adaptation”: “This is a new environment, a new country, a new way of life, and I want to synchronize myself with the way things work here,” he says.
“Thank you to the Florence Project. You helped me and my friends,” he adds. “Having Ms. Lizbeth and Ms. Daniela prepare documents for me and help me on how to speak in court, and to be present there, was so good for me.”
Legal assistant Lizbeth Cortes joined the Florence Project relatively recently, and Jamil’s asylum win was her first client hearing. She proudly shares that a big part of the work beforehand was to fill him with confidence.
“We told him, ‘Hey you can do this. You’re very well prepared. You have all the answers.’ And he did great! He won, and he was so very happy and grateful,” she recalls. “It was an amazing case to be a part of.”
*pseudonym used to protect privacy