During the time the U.S. was at war in Afghanistan, the U.S government and especially the military recruited Afghanistan citizens to help in the fight against the Taliban. Among the things the Afghans did was to help the military plan and order airstrikes against the Taliban and its supporters, work as drivers for the U.S. and serve as translators. By working to defeat the Taliban, those people put their lives and those of their families in jeopardy. Now that the Taliban has taken over the country, the jeopardy has multiplied.
The U.S. had promised to protect them, including bringing them to the U.S. where they would rebuild their lives in freedom. Some already are in Westchester and elsewhere in the U.S., but the Biden Administration did not extract everyone. Now, with President Trump moving to shut down as much immigration as possible, some people are stuck in Afghanistan. The State Department has said that it would consider what to do on a “case-by-case” basis, while discounting the blanket promises the U.S. made in the past.
At least three Westchester groups that previously helped bring Afghan people to the county are doing what they can to try to convince the new administration to undo what it has done and help more of the Afghans who helped the U.S.
Ted Buerger, co-founder of Open Arms for Refugees based in Ossining told the Business Journal that the organization was formed three years ago after the fall of Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul to help resettle a particular refugee.
“That’s when I met Dana Levenberg, who’s one of the co-founders. Now a State Assembly member, she was Ossining Town Supervisor at the time,” Buerger said. “I said, ‘if we’re going to support one person we probably should support more than one.’ We welcomed our first refugee in January 2022 and another family a month later and then more, including from other countries. We have now directly assisted 20 households and 70 individuals resettling in Westchester, generally Northern Westchester since we’re based in Ossining.”
Buerger said his organization has supported several of the Afghan people who helped the U.S. during the Afghan war. He said one of the requirements for the organization supporting people is that they have strong cases for coming to the U.S.
“We have supported refugees from Columbia, and there is no American promise there, but the danger and persecution they faced was overwhelming,” Buerger said. “Probably 75% of the households and people that we’ve resettled have been from Afghanistan and almost all fit in the description of people who helped the U.S.”
Buerger emphasized that the executive order on Jan. 20 that suspended processing and travel to the U.S. for immigrants terminated the arrival of Afghan allies to whom the U.S. had made promises. He said that in two of his group’s cases their flights to the U.S. were cancelled just days before the scheduled February departures as a result of the U.S. doing an about-face.
Buerger said they and two other groups quickly arranged meetings with Democratic Congressman George Latimer wh represents New York’s 16th Congressional District and Republican Mike Lawler who represents the 17th District to enlist their help in pushing for action. They met directly with Latimer and one of his staffers and also with a staff member of Lawler’s office.
“We did this jointly with the groups Neighbors for Refugees located in Larchmont and Hearts & Homes for Refugees located in Pelham,” Buerger said. “They do the same kind of work that we do. In fact, we learned how to do this kind of work from them.”
Buerger said there had been a total of 21 Afghan people who recently had been expecting to come to Westchester helped by the three community sponsorship organizations that now have been cut off.
“We help them become part of the community with health care, housing. We help them get jobs but we also want them to be connected to the community so they feel this is their home and they’re welcome here,” Buerger said. “Our understanding is that all of these cases are being blocked in the White House. To our knowledge there has been no approval of a case-by-case review.”
Buerger said that residents and businesses in Westchester are welcome to visit the Open Arms for Refugees website and click on the button “get them out” where they can find details on what they might do to help get people out of Afghanistan.
“If we all go to our local representatives and let them know how upset we are about this betrayal of trust of our allies then those people can have influence on the White House and let the White House know that they’re making both a moral mistake in judgment as well as a political mistake,” Buerger said.
Rep. Latimer told the Business Journal, “I think it’s pretty clear that these individuals put themselves on the line, their lives, their families, everything they had to support the Americans when we were in Afghanistan and they had hoped that we would bring freedom and opportunity to the Afghan people. They became pariahs to the Taliban. Now that we’re gone they’re in dire straits and violence and death may follow if we don’t do what’s right.”
Latimer said that the people in Westchester who are stepping forward are not just advocates but are providing real resources for people who need help.
“I think it’s a great statement by these individuals, the organizations they represent and more generally the county as a whole that understands the sacrifice these Afghans have made and they can’t be abandoned,” Latimer said.
