USA: Catholic agency helps Afghan immigrants

The United States is currently hosting more Afghan interpreters and their families who are at risk due to the ongoing withdrawal of US forces and the advance of the Taliban in their country. Catholic agencies are also helping to receive these immigrants, according to the Catholic News Service.

The US military has been stationed in Afghanistan for decades and will withdraw completely from the country by the end of August. Taliban extremists control large parts of Afghanistan these days. Anyone who has worked with US forces as a local translator or mediator is in mortal danger.

As part of the Allied operation, which began on July 30, several planes loaded with people arrived from Afghanistan to the United States. The families were pre-screened and were able to safely complete the immigration process in the United States.

70,000 Afghans have been accepted into the United States

Jessica Estrada, director of the Newcomers Division at Catholic Charities for the Archdiocese of Arlington, said federal, military and nongovernmental organizations worked together on the project. “Under other circumstances, we wouldn’t work well together, but because this was such a unique situation, the people who got here were everyone’s top priority,” she said.

Since 2008, according to the US State Department, the United States has taken in 70,000 Afghans who have helped American Americans abroad through the Special Immigrant Visa Program. The application process is usually completed in Afghanistan. However, due to the current unstable situation in the country, immigrants had to leave the country quickly and were quickly accepted.

(cns – gs)