ICE Arrests of Afghans on the Rise     12/09 06:18

   

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- On a recent afternoon, Giselle Garcia, a 
volunteer who has been helping an Afghan family resettle, drove the father to a 
check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She warned him and his 
family to prepare for the worst.

   The moment the father stepped into the ICE office in California's capital 
city, he was arrested.

   Coming just days after the shooting of two National Guard troops by an 
Afghan national suspect, federal authorities have carried out increased arrests 
of Afghans in the U.S., immigration lawyers say as Afghans both in and outside 
the country have come under intense scrutiny by immigration officials.

   Garcia said the family she helped had reported to all their appointments and 
were following all legal requirements.

   "He was trying to be strong for his wife and kids in the car, but the 
anxiety and fear were palpable," she said. "His wife was trying to hold back 
tears, but I could see her in the rearview mirror silently crying."

   They had fled Afghanistan under threat by the Taliban because the wife's 
father had assisted the U.S. military, and they had asked for asylum at the 
U.S.-Mexico border, Garcia said. She is not identifying him or his family for 
fear other members could be arrested.

   Afghan men arrested in wake of shooting

   Since the Nov. 26 Guard shooting, The Associated Press has tracked roughly 
two dozen arrests of Afghan immigrants, most of which happened in Northern 
California. In Sacramento, home to one of the nation's largest Afghan 
communities, volunteers monitoring ICE activities say they witnessed at least 
nine arrests at the federal building last week after Afghan men received calls 
to check in there.

   Many of those detained had requested asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border in the 
last two years. Others were among the 76,000 Afghans brought to the U.S. under 
Operation Allies Welcome, created by former President Joe Biden's 
administration after the chaotic withdrawal of the U.S. from their country.

   White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Dec. 1 that the Trump 
administration is "actively reexamining" all the Afghan nationals who entered 
the U.S. during Biden's administration.

   The AP couldn't independently determine each of the Afghans' immigration 
statuses or the reasons put forward by authorities for their arrests. In one 
case, the man had been arrested twice on suspicion of domestic violence, 
according to the government.

   Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland, said in an 
email that the agency "has been going full throttle on identifying and 
arresting known or suspected terrorists and criminal illegal aliens that came 
in through Biden's fraudulent parole programs and working to get the criminals 
and public safety threats OUT of our country."

   Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the 29-year-old Afghan suspect in the shooting, was 
granted asylum earlier this year, according to advocate group #AfghanEvac.

   Critics say Afghans paying price for one bad actor

   Since the shooting, the U.S. government introduced sweeping immigration 
changes, including pausing asylum applications and requiring increased vetting 
for immigrants from certain countries. The administration also took steps 
specifically targeted at Afghans, including pausing all their 
immigration-related applications and visas for Afghans who closely helped the 
war effort.

   Those who work with Afghans say the stepped-up enforcement amounts to the 
collective punishment of a population, many of whom risked their lives to 
protect U.S. troops.

   "Not to discount the horrific killing that happened, but that was one bad 
actor who should be prosecuted by the full extent of the law," Democratic Rep. 
Ami Bera, whose California district includes Sacramento, said of Lakanwal. "A 
lot of these people kept our troops safe and served side by side with our 
soldiers for two decades in Afghanistan."

   Cuffed after reporting to ICE

   In Sacramento, Afghan men arrived one by one to the ICE office Dec. 1 after 
being asked to immediately report there, drawing the attention of volunteers 
who have been at the federal building for more than six months to monitor ICE 
activities and alert immigrants.

   As each man entered the office, agents handcuffed them, said Garcia, a 
volunteer with NorCal Resist.

   "What we saw on Monday was an influx of Afghan immigrants called randomly 
starting at 6 a.m. and asked to do a check-in and report immediately," Garcia 
said. "Most of these Afghan men already had ankle monitors on them."

   Her organization's volunteers witnessed ICE arrest six Afghans that day.

   Arrests and cancellations cause fear

   In Des Moines, Iowa, Ann Naffier, with the Iowa Migrant Movement for 
Justice, said her Afghan client was detained Dec. 2 on the way to work by 
agents who called him a "terrorist." He was held for two hours before he was 
released with an apology.

   Wahida Noorzad is an immigration attorney in Northern California who has two 
Afghan clients who were arrested last week by ICE. Both entered the U.S. in 
recent years through the southern border. One used the app set up by the Biden 
administration to make an appointment to request asylum at the border.

   Noorzad felt both had strong cases to eventually be granted asylum in the 
U.S. She also said she found no criminal records for them.

   Spojmie Nasiri, another immigration attorney in Northern California, said 
she's received numerous calls from worried Afghans, including a man who called 
her terrified as agents stood outside his home. He put her on speaker phone so 
she could tell them that her client was a U.S. citizen.

   Iqbal Wafa, an Afghan immigration consultant in Sacramento, said officials 
told his client when he went to his appointment last week that that interviews 
for Afghans are canceled, and he observed interviews for other Afghan 
immigrants were canceled as well inside a federal building in Sacramento.

   A family left crying

   Garcia said she listened through the wall of the waiting room at the ICE 
office and heard agents handcuff the father of the family she was helping.

   "I'm screaming his rights through the wall so he could hear me. 'Remain 
silent! Please don't sign anything!'" she said. She left after security 
approached.

   When she walked out of the building without him, she said his wife broke 
down sobbing.

   Their daughter tried to console her, telling her, "Mommy, don't cry. 
Everything will be OK when daddy comes."