May 2022
Director’s Corner
Dear Sponsors, Supporters, and our amazing Volunteers. As the world’s attention continues to focus on the humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine, the situation in Afghanistan is no less dire. While the economy is in free fall, the Taliban continues to attack basic civil rights and freedoms. Women were once again ordered to cover themselves from head to toe. In this context, the work of Allied Airlift and the entire Afghan Evac Coalition continues to be critical to help our Allies and their families get to the United States to restart their lives in safety with dignity and honor. We are heartened that the US Government is getting closer and closer to a long term, end-to-end solution. But we have a long way to go, and, until then, we continue to work hard to fill in the gaps and seams until such a solution is finalized. We have many updates this month on what is happening and what we are doing. We are grateful for your continued support. We are not done yet. Mike Jason Executive Director, Allied Airlift 21
------------------------------------------------------------------Operational Update
Over the last month the State Department has continued to assist individuals with traveling from Kabul to the United States through Doha or Islamabad. We are happy to report that over 50 of the people we have been tracking and advocating for are out of Afghanistan already and at least 100 more are on manifests for flights in the coming weeks. Additionally, over the past month, we have submitted over 1400 additional names of people who meet the State Department criteria to be considered for a flight. As this process becomes more routine, we are getting additional information about how cases are being worked once we submit them to the State Department. We want to share that with Sponsors so that you are better able to explain the process, manage expectations, and ensure that all the key documents are submitted expediently.
The U.S. Department of State priorities for flight consideration continue to remain the same:
1. AMCIT, LPR, or SIV COM approved or higher stage
2. All members of case have valid passports including recently born children. Passports must have at least 6 months left before expiration at the time of the flight, so we recommend that anyone who has a passport expiring in 2022 apply for a new one.
3. Individuals, couples or nuclear families (with unmarried children under 21 years of age). No extended family.
For flight manifesting, DOS is currently focusing on AMCIT, LPRs and SIV “Interview Ready” stage (Stage 11). In addition to the above requirements,
“Interview Ready” is defined as…
1. Approved I-360 form with KBL Number
2. Approved DS-260 (completed documentation and fees paid or waived)
3. All persons must be on the SIV case (listed on I-360 and DS-260 forms)
The CEAC status may show “Ready” but it could also show “At NVC” and still be in the “Interview Ready” stage but only DOS will know for sure.
Note: NVC is now sending a new interview document stating: The NVC has received all documentation for this case. The applicant is now in the queue awaiting an interview appointment overseas.
Manifest Logistics
The State Department builds several manifests at a time so that they can arrange visas for all travelers in batches. That’s why a bunch of people may be contacted within a few days, and then there may be no action for a week or two following that. They also overbook each flight because there are people who are not able to fly because of positive Covid tests or other circumstances. Unfortunately this means that some people may be bumped from a flight. When someone is bumped, we are told they will be prioritized for the next batch of flights, but they won’t be on the very next one. So it may take them a couple weeks to be rescheduled. We share this information so you can help manage expectations for your family. As we have learned over the last many months, there is a lot of waiting involved.
Case Updates Needed
Since it has been several months since most cases were submitted to us, we would like to refresh our data so we can ensure that the information the State Department has is accurate and that they are able to contact families. Any new babies also need to be added by the family to paperwork through the State Department system, not just added to our manifests unless the family is listed as “Interview Ready” on CEAC.
CEAC (state.gov) (https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx)
If any of the information below has changed since you last provided us with updates, please email us at: cases@alliedairlift21.net.
Please put “STATUS UPDATE for [Primary Applicant Name]” in the subject line and include the SIV number in the email so we can search more easily.
* The Family has recently received a COM approval letter (provide a copy)
* The Family has recently received a KBL number (provide a copy of the documentation)
* A new baby was born (provide infant’s info and a copy of the passport and national ID).
* Any family members have obtained new passports (provide a copy of the passport).
* The phone number or email address of the primary applicant has changed. (This is critical, people cannot get on flights if the State Department can’t reach them, and to this point they have not been able to contact many of the individuals who they have tried to reach out to. They communicate directly with the primary applicant, and not with the sponsor.)
Pakistan Case Transfers
DOS is encouraging Afghans to not transfer their cases to Islamabad, Pakistan until they are actually in the country. Visa difficulties have prevented numerous Afghan cases from traveling to Pakistan when they receive appointments. Further, visas are expiring before the U.S. Embassy processing is complete and people are having to return to Afghanistan before their appointments. While some people have been able to extend their visas, many requests are being denied.
Please note cases that if your family’s case has already been transferred to Islamabad, but they are unable to travel to Pakistan, they are still eligible to be manifested for a flight departing from Kabul. The family must notify the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and tell them that they will remain in Afghanistan. Proactively communicating this type of information will reduce the case load at the Embassy and improve processing times. The case will retain the ISL prefix or suffix moving forward and that’s ok.
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Allied Airlift 21 IT Update
Our transition to Salesforce is ongoing. We are currently in the process of testing the intake process and resolving glitches. Additional information about submitting cases via the new processes will be provided in an upcoming newsletter. If you need assistance before then, please email cases@alliedairlift21.net (mailto:cases@alliedairlift21.net) .
Once we move data to Salesforce, you may receive emails directly from the system. In some cases these may end up in your spam folder or flagged as suspicious. Those emails will come from “Case Admin Email” and will come from an alliedairlift21.net email address. If there is anyone cc’d on the email, please reply all.
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Internship
Allied Airlift is seeking 3 summer interns to help advance the important work we are doing. With State Department flights moving, we anticipate that it will be a busy summer with a variety of opportunities to participate in the planning and implementation of critical work. If you know a college or graduate student who may be interested, please share the position descriptions with them.
· Operations Intern (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XkSNe7Ue0jpEMq1CW_5b-54jZ8tpLj5J/view?usp=sharing)
· Communications Intern (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uGAaBBT8E23BLEf8Bnj3Izq5prgxKdbY/view?usp=sharing)
· IT Intern (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FknCZxVTsmMiAmDZBdydmVbZHqFAhzVE/view?usp=sharing)
AA21's Support of Alternative Travel Routes to the United States
Our Executive Chair, France Hoang, has launched an online fundraising campaign to raise the funds necessary to support additional potential authorized travel routes out of Afghanistan. Here’s the link:
Help AA21 and ADG Save At Risk Afghan Allies | Mightycause
(https://www.mightycause.com/story/Pd2w6f?fbclid=IwAR1QdgdyYboL2wbKBPqwl-VdlmxAa3_91AnytREXtKY5BSOYZR5VdMxbnf4)
We ask that you help us get the word out to your networks by doing one of the following:
(1) share the above link on your social media in your own post;
(2) like and retweet/share the below links on your social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fqhoang/posts/10160055997567238 (https://www.facebook.com/fqhoang/posts/10160055997567238)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/francisqhoang_help-aa21-and-adg-save-at-risk-afghan-allies-activity-6923480658958856192-s6Up
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FQhoang/status/1517725067899191297?s=20&t=Ul8SdvZR0inDAhZk9SCGQg (https://twitter.com/FQhoang/status/1517725067899191297?s=20&t=Ul8SdvZR0inDAhZk9SCGQg)
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Recognition of AA21’s work
We are happy to share that not only are we helping get Afghan Allies safely out of Afghanistan and to the United States, but the hard work and progress of our volunteers is being recognized by other organizations.
This is, of course, a team effort and it wouldn’t be possible without the work of the hundreds of you doing the day to day work - the volunteers working cases, those supporting IT and communications, and the sponsors who have been working directly with families to ferry them through this complicated process and often provide financial support as well. THANK YOU ALL for all that you do and for being a part of this team.
The National Able Network Recognized France Hoang as Veteran of the Year for his work with Allied Airlift 21 and Afghan Departure Group (ADG) (https://www.nationalable.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Fourth-Annual-Veteran-of-the-Year_Press-Release.pdf) .
The Lantos Foundation Awarded its 2021 Lantos Human Rights Prize (https://www.lantosfoundation.org/news/2022/5/18/three-afghan-women-honored-as-human-rights-heroes-at-lantos-human-rights-prize-ceremony) to three Afghan women, Judge Fawzia Amini, Roya Mahboob, and Khalida Popal (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZlohdOGXi4) , who have fought for the rights of women and girls. The foundation continues the work of Tom Lantos, a Member of Congress and Holocaust Survivor, who was famous for saying, “The vaneer of civilization is paper thin. We are its GUARDIANS, and we can never rest.”AA21 and our volunteers were recognized during the ceremony as Guardians.
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Feature Interview with Margaret Ladner
This month we spoke with AA21 Margaret Ladner. A former Amnesty International officer with experience working in Afghanistan, Margaret joined AA21 shortly after the military withdrawal from Afghanistan and made an important contribution to the first version of the database of cases AA21 has continued to expand and refine. This is her AA21 story.
Q. Could tell you us a little bit about yourself, who you are and what you do?
A. I'm currently a midwife in Chicago, where I serve lower income communities. But this is a second career for me. I actually started off my professional life working with human rights organizations. I worked with Amnesty International and worked on their South Asia team covering Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh in 2001.
And so when the US began the invasion of Afghanistan at that time, I was doing human rights documentation work, going up to the border and interviewing Afghans who were fleeing the US bombing. From there, I went on to become the lead of the Afghanistan field office for Amnesty International from 2002 to 2003. That was pretty experimental at the time, because Amnesty International did not usually work having an in-country field presence.
We had a one-year field presence that focused on criminal justice reform. And through that, I met many Afghans, worked with Afghans, and it left a piece of Afghanistan in my heart.
I was there for just a year, a short amount of time, but it was a pretty important time in my life. I eventually came back to the United States and continued working in human rights work and did in fact do a little more on Afghanistan a few years later. That entailed working with a funders group to provide grants supporting groups and initiatives in Afghanistan but I didn't have the opportunity to travel back there again at that time.
Fast forward many years later, after many changes in my own life – when Kabul fell to the Taliban in August last year, I had folks that I'd met [in 2002-2003], get in touch with me because either they were in a difficult situation, or they had family members who were.
I was able to benefit from the work that Allied Airlift did during the evacuations through Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA). Indirectly, I was in touch with somebody who was active in Allied Airlift and they helped in getting out one of my former staff members through HKIA but I wasn't directly plugged into Allied Airlift.
When the HKIA evacuations wrapped up and I came back to Chicago from summer vacation, I was still trying to figure out ways of helping my Afghan friends and colleagues. I had Bridget Altenburg over for dinner. Over the dinner I said: “Hey, if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know because I would love to help.” A couple of days later she contacted me and said “we've got work to do if you'd like to join us.”
So mid-September, I jumped into working with AA21. Initially, I thought we were doing stuff that [the organization] already knew how to do. And it was only a week or so in that I realized that we were building the plane while we were flying it. Which was an interesting feeling, realizing “Oh, this is a system that's only been set up a day before I joined!”
I think it is probably the most important work I've ever done. My work history includes documenting human rights abuses and delivering babies as a midwife - and it still feels like what we were and are trying to do is super important in the grand scheme of things.
Q. Why did you feel your work with AA21 that September was so vital?
A. I think in part, because it was so immediate. Human rights work, human rights documentation, is important work, don't get me wrong. But it's a very slow, plodding process in most cases.
You get the information about something that's happened. You interview somebody. You try to lobby people for change. All that is slow and plodding, and almost never results in victories. Sometimes it might result in change, but it almost never results in restitution for the person who's been harmed.
With the work with AA21 there is this sense that if we can get people's information to the right place, we can get them to safety in a relatively short amount of time and have a tremendous impact on their lives and their children's lives and their whole family's trajectory. Through my work with AA21 I was reaching out my hand and crossing these enormous gulfs of danger and power imbalances.
Q. What were some of your initial tasks and what was it like in those early days working with AA21?
A. We had cases coming to us. It was emails coming in with all this case material. People's personal details, all their documentation and then taking that and trying to then input it into the database, in a workable format and trying to figure out how to best track these people? How do we figure out priorities?
And so it was a large amount of data management, the structure of which was built by Carrie Brown. It was like being hit with a fire hydrant hose, there was just so much coming in at the same time and trying to keep all that data straight and get it into the right place as quickly as we could.
Q. What were those days like for you? What were the hours that you were keeping as far as your work for AA21?
A. I was probably working probably around 18 hours a day. I think I guesstimated that I was working 80 to 90 hours a week, for those three or four weeks in September.
Q. Here at AA21 we're all volunteers for the most part. What do you think moving forward is the way you can be most impactful?
A. Now that systems for helping to move individuals and families safely out of Afghanistan are running again there are ample opportunities for volunteers (new and old) to support AA21’s efforts to prepare cases for travel from Afghanistan to safety in the US. We still have thousands of cases to prepare. So even while Afghanistan has slipped from the headlines, the work and the need continues.
