Supporting Afghan Clients With The Afghan Community Project
In August 2021, the United States military evacuated over 80,000 people from Afghanistan to the U.S., including thousands of Afghan civilians. In response, NWIRP launched the Afghan Community Project (ACP) – a new effort to provide immigration support to community members from Afghanistan who are now living in our region.
NWIRP established the ACP in March 2022. We moved quickly shortly after being notified of a funding award from both State and Federal sources to support the Afghan community in Washington state.
Beginning with a staff of four, the ACP has since expanded significantly and is currently working collaboratively on over 100 active asylum applications, in addition to Temporary Protected Status applications, family applications, removal cases, and other vital work to support the thousands of Afghan immigrants here in Washington State.
Amin Bakhshi began working for NWIRP in March 2022 as a legal advocate in the ACP unit. Here is what Amin had to say about his experience working for the Afghan Community Project.
“I am from Afghanistan. Before coming to the United States, I worked as a translator and interpreter for five years, helping the United States military. I immigrated to the United States in 2021, first working for FedEx before starting my current role with NWIRP.
I love working for this organization. Every person here – from the newest hires to our management – has the same goal of helping every community member who needs legal assistance. I also appreciate NWIRP’s diversity. I feel like I meet someone from a new country nearly every week. It is an honor to be part of this organization that cares deeply about fulfilling its mission.
As a legal advocate from Afghanistan, I know my clients’ language and culture. I help them through the legal process by ensuring their questions are answered and passing along any concerns to their attorneys. I appreciate the guidance and advice my supervisors and team members have given me – it helps me do my job well.”
Since expanding the capacity of our ACP team, we have been able to reduce our waitlist significantly. The dedicated work of our staff has allowed us to accept new clients and expand the kinds of services we can offer them.
Our staff also includes Najmia Khatibi, a temporary legal advocate who is also from Afghanistan.
“I was born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan. I had a hostile childhood, witnessing the civil war at a very young age and experiencing the hostility of the Taliban regime in the 1990s when it was time for me to go to school and girls were banned. After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, I completed my high school education and graduated from Kabul University with a BA in Persian Literature.
Because Afghanistan had seen many dark days, especially for Afghan women and children, I decided to independently advocate for human rights, women’s and children’s rights, and disseminate information to educate the Afghan male dominant society to be accepting of and respect the rights of others, especially women and children.
After moving to the United States in 2019 with my husband and son, I enrolled at Highline College to pursue a degree in paralegal studies. My goal was to continue to work with community members who have been harmed by injustice. As a result, I am happy to now be working at Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, helping with the immigration cases of Afghans who have fled persecution.”
We are fortunate to live in a state that drives positive change and supports change through funding and policy.