Samey is Finally Free

samey
Samey, second from left, with his legal team.

In April of 2016 Vets for American Ideals members sprung to action to try to help Samey Honaryar, an Afghan interpreter seeking asylum in the United States after fleeing the Taliban. After he arrived on U.S. soil he was detained in an Alabama detention facility. Marine veteran Richard Weir shared his story, and the rest of VFAI joined with him in calling on the Justice Department to review his case. Unfortunately, justice was not swift, but now, two years later, Samey has won his asylum case. He can now begin building a life in the United States.

Samey served with the U.S. military in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2012. Because of his work for our mission, he received threats to stop working with the “infidels,” and was even run off the road at one point. Then in 2012, gunman beat him and attempted to abduct him; he still bears a scar on his face from the attack. Fearing for his life, he at first fled to India to look for work, but eventually made his way to Mexico, aiming to cross the Rio Grande in a small boat. At the American border post, he asked for asylum, which is granted to refugees who come to the United States because they have suffered, or have a well-founded fear that they will suffer persecution—unlike refugees, who go through an application process and then resettle in the United States, asylum seekers ask for protection once they’ve reached this country.

The Department of Homeland Security found Samey’s fear credible, and Samey’s U.S. military supervisors in Afghanistan confirmed the facts of his case. Yet the judge determined that the real Taliban “would have assassinated him on the spot” and further that U.S. intervention and Afghan security forces were “effective in controlling the Taliban in many parts of Afghanistan”—an outrageous claim in 2015, one of the bloodiest years in the war in Afghanistan.

In the wake of the judge’s ruling, Samey languished in jails in Alabama and Texas for nearly three years. Human Rights First has reported that U.S. immigration authorities often continue to hold asylum seekers in jails and detention facilities, even when that detention is not necessary. But thanks to his perseverance and the commitment of his pro bono legal team at Akin Gump, who took on his case in 2016, he finally won his appeal.

The victory is long overdue, and it should be celebrated, but as Samey now builds his new life in the United States and puts the ordeal behind him, VFAI needs to keep it front and center in our minds. The Afghan SIV program for 2019 comes up for review in the coming months and we need to fight to ensure that cases like Samey’s never happen in the first place.

People like Samey risked their lives to fight for the United States and it’s important to keep our promises to them for it. Part of keeping faith with them is to give them safety in America. As we prepare for the fight ahead, let’s be thankful that we can finally say that Samey’s here, safe.