The Department of Homeland Security is defending the Taliban to make a case for deporting an Afghan man who was rescued by U.S. forces.
The Washington Post reported the man, who was identified only as H out of concern for his safety, has sought asylum because he supported U.S. interests in his home country of Afghanistan, worked for a U.S.-based nonprofit, and attended an American university in Kabul.
But President Donald Trump's administration has ordered him to be returned despite his fears the Taliban will kill him..
"To undermine his claim, government attorneys argued that the Taliban have allowed those institutions to continue to operate — clear signs, they suggested, that his past would not endanger him if he was deported," the Post reported.
However, the newspaper found that both the nongovernmental organization where he worked and the American University of Afghanistan had fundamentally transformed since H left the country and were now both under strict Taliban supervision, and legal experts say his case could have far-reaching consequences if Attorney General Pam Bondi ultimately sides with the DHS.
“It’s worrying,” said Anam Petit, a former immigration judge. “The broader ramification is that many asylum seekers from Afghanistan who have similar or comparable facts will have a much harder, if not impossible, time being granted asylum.”
Around 200,000 Afghans have found refuge in the U.S. since the 20-year war ended there, but the Trump administration has dismantled programs set up to assist them and canceled protections for Afghans who assisted Americans during the conflict – and without those safeguards many could be sent back to a regime the United States refuses to recognize as legitimate.
“During the previous government, NGO workers were targeted everywhere,” said a current manager at the Afghan NGO where H worked. “They were enemies, like soldiers.”
The Taliban has took back control of all 34 provinces since U.S. forces left, and that manager said the danger to any workers who returned to Afghanistan would be immense.
“Nobody can say there is no risk for the deportees,” he said. “Everyone is scared and have fear and is eager to leave.”
DHS has not accused H of any crime or disloyalty or act of terrorism, but Assistant DHS Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Post he was “illegal” and an “unvetted alien from a high threat country,” although she conceded that he was only considered “illegal” because her department had revoked his parole when it arrested him.
"In interviews and court testimony, H has said there are many reasons the Taliban would target him if he returned: He worked for the nonprofit and attended American University of Afghanistan; he rejects the militants’ extreme view of Islam; he escaped on a U.S. military plane; he lives with his brother, a naturalized citizen who served as an interpreter for the Army; he’s raising his children, both citizens, in Virginia," the Post reported.
"H has been repeatedly vetted by investigators from the military, Homeland Security and FBI over the past four years, he said, and he’s answered every question asked of him. He is certain the Taliban know that he and his family support the U.S.," the report added.
Federal prosecutors demanded at a hearing to know why terrorists had not hurt him before fleeing Afghanistan, and H attributed his narrow escape from bombings and firefights to "good luck," which he told the court would undoubtedly run out if he was forced to return.
“There is no chance of living,” he testified at the asylum hearing.