Thread by @HMAesq

I've seen a lot of ink over the last two weeks attempting to explain the Taliban's lightning takeover of this beautiful country. Biden botched the withdrawal. Afghans are tribal. The Taliban wouldn't have been able to if they weren't popular. Pakistan enabled them.

I won't opine on the accuracy of these statements. People a lot smarter than I can duke it out. My calling is to help the traumatized and voiceless and take their stories to lawmakers to give them a voice. Same I did in Tijuana and Texas and at Dulles during the Muslim Ban.

I went to Dulles again on Sunday night when I found out a young Afghan had been detained there for nearly 3 days. No lawyer, no info. We dutifully filed our G-28's even though they're routinely ignored by CBP. (I've seen this movie before. A lot.)

And as usual, our persistence and hints at filing a habeus worked: he was released at 4 am Monday morning.

Today, I had the ill fortune to read another piece by Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the white nationalist mouthpiece Center for Immigration Studies. Afghanistan is too delicious a crisis for these hatemongers: they jump every time like hungry pike fish.

Vetting. That's all they care about when it comes to immigrants, especially of the swarthy bearded variety. But of course, no vetting system is enough.

These jokers are the ones that have an iron grip on immigration policy. They are, in large part, the reason my client was detained for 3 days without a lawyer.

Four decades of telling lawmakers to shut down the pipeline and extremely vet the tiny stream that remained, then set deportation booby traps to ensnare as many in the trickle that made it. Wall after wall after wall had already been built. "Build the wall?" Who are we kidding?

After Trump lost, I vowed never to be complacent again. But in Aug 2021 I was in the same literal spot as Jan 2017, begging to be allowed to see my client, texting colleagues to start ghostwriting petitions, arguing points of law to agents who DGAF.
Everything stays the same.

I get that there are security concerns. I just disagree that building walls is the solution. To me, #NoBanNoWallNoRaids means something.

We have thousands of new Afghan people landing here. There is actual agreement on both sides of the aisle on bringing them here (even if some continue to cry vet vet vet)

That was the thrust of our message when we talked to our MoC @JenniferWexton. That's my message to @SecMayorkas, and to @JoeBiden:
How we treat our newest arrivals is what defines us.

Better: how they become us is what defines us.

May God protect the people of Afghanistan in jihad against the Taliban.

Resources for those who want to help:
Afghan Evacuation Resources: humanrightsfirst.org/.../resources-…...
evacuateourallies.org/resources
refugees.org/resources-for-…
protectafghanwomen.org
gofundme.com/.../protect-wo…...

Resources to Help Newly Arrived Afghans:
Donate: cwsglobal.org/?form=siv
Sponsor a family: cwsglobal.org/tak.../afghan-…
Volunteer: rcusa.org/get-involved/v…
Volunteer (for lawyers): docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSeL…