Afghans who were evacuated to the U.S. navigate a complicated immigration system

An Afghan woman evacuated to the U.S. finds herself stuck in a system called Humanitarian Parole. What is it, and what does it mean for her future?

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

It’s been nearly two years since the U.S. withdrew all troops from Afghanistan.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: Deadly scenes of panic at the airport.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: Thousands of Afghans now scrambling to get out.

RASCOE: And as some Afghans were evacuated to the U.S., many had to navigate a complicated immigration system – specifically humanitarian parole. Journalist Lauren DeLaunay Miller brings us a story of one woman stuck in that system.

LAUREN DELAUNAY MILLER, BYLINE: Mina Bakhshi’s evacuation from Kabul involved a long bus ride in the middle of the night, two flights and 16 weeks spent in three different refugee staging areas. But when Mina finally arrived at a military base in New Jersey in October of 2021, she was asked a question that she hadn’t been asked before – what is your case number?

MINA BAKHSHI: And I said, I literally don’t know what you’re talking about, and I don’t think I have any case number. And that’s when they told me that I’m a parolee.

DELAUNAY MILLER: But what did that even mean?

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

BAKHSHI: We had lots of questions on our mind. Like, OK, when will we get our green card? How long will it take for us? Are we able to go to university? Or what are the benefits we’ll get? And we were using the term, like, refugee for ourselves. But they were like, OK, it’s parole. You should not expect to get your green card soon.

DELAUNAY MILLER: The majority of Afghan refugees admitted to the U.S. since August of 2021 have arrived on a program called humanitarian parole. That’s about 77,000 Afghans who believed they would be targets of the Taliban government – activists who had worked on behalf of women’s rights or human rights, journalists, artists and…