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Tenants of The Reserve at
Lavista Walk apartments are
filing a class action lawsuit
against the complex’s owner
claiming faulty fire suppression
equipment and negligence
after a fire ravaged the building
on Nov. 10. Two people were
arrested for shooting fireworks
off the roof, which is believed
to have ignited the blaze.
The Atlanta City
Council voted
Nov. 20 to extend
the redevelopment
moratorium on the
Atlanta Medical
Center property in Old
Fourth Ward. Wellstar
shuttered the hospital
more than a year ago.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony
was held Nov. 1 to celebrate
the completion of another
segment of the Atlanta
BeltLine’s Northeast Trail. The
1.2-mile section of the path
extends from Westminster
Drive to Mayson Street and
connects neighborhoods to
Ansley Mall and Piedmont
Park.
The Atlanta-region Transit Link
Authority (ATL) has officially
launched the trip-planning app
ATL RIDES. The app lets transit
customers plan their journeys across
13 counties via six transit agencies
— Xpress, MARTA, Ride Gwinnett,
CobbLinc, Connect Douglas, and
Cherokee Area Transit System. The
app is available for download in
both the Apple and Google stores.
Afghan evacuees face uncertain future with temporary
immigration status
By Clare S. Richie
Abdul Malik Sadat, an Afghan evacuee
welcomed to the U.S. two years ago with
his wife, may lose his property maintenance
job because of challenges stemming from his
temporary immigration status.
“I like my job,” Sadat explained through
an interpreter. “I would like to work to
support my family,” which now includes an
11-month-old daughter.
Over the past two years, the International
Rescue Committee (IRC) in Atlanta has
resettled 800 Afghan evacuees who came
through Operation Allies Welcome after the
U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
These Afghan allies are eager to rebuild their
lives here but their “humanitarian parole”
status only lets them stay for two years at
a time and doesn’t provide a path to lawful
permanent residence.
“This temporary status has stunted the
integration our clients could have because
they are constantly worried about their
status,” said Asiyah Sarwari, Managing
Attorney with IRC in Atlanta.
“We applied for Sadat’s work
authorization and Temporary Protected
Status (TPS) but have received no response,”
said Fetratullah Farhat, IRC in Atlanta
Immigration Legal Specialist. Sadat is also
in the process of filing asylum and parole
extension applications.
To help families like Sadat’s navigate all
of this, the IRC in Atlanta partnered with the
Georgia Asylum & Immigration Network
(GAIN). Together the nonprofits hosted 12
pro se legal clinics and assisted nearly 600
Afghan humanitarian parolees filing for
asylum and/or TPS.
“We played to our respective strengths,”
said Adriana Heffley, GAIN Director of
Legal Services. “We have extensive asylum
expertise established over the past 18 years
and IRC has this incredible staff, resources,
space, and case management services.”
This summer, the Biden administration
authorized re-parole for Afghan evacuees
but even this band-aid is fraught with
complications.
“Even though the USCIS [U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services]
offers guidance it’s not trickling down to the
employers,” Sawari said.
“The approval notice functions as an
extension of their work authorization,”
Heffley said. “That’s new to employers and
some won’t accept it.”A separate work permit
application takes time.
And when USCIS fails to update
approved Afghan parolees’ status online,
parolees often can’t renew their driver’s
licenses.
“I have a client who is a truck driver,”
Farhat said. “His license expired. DDS didn’t
renew it. He is now at home and concerned
about how to pay his rent.”
Submitting application after application
also requires our Afghan neighbors to relive
and report difficult experiences.
“Especially for the military folks who
provided support to the U.S. and have
PTSD, applying for these different statuses
could potentially retraumatize them,” said
Zuhra Aziz, Esq., GAIN Equal Justice Works
Fellow.
There is a common sense solution
with precedent. After previous U.S. troop
withdrawals, like after the Vietnam War,
Congress passed adjustment acts to provide a
path to lawful permanent residence for those
evacuated.
The bipartisan Afghan Adjustment Act of
2023 reintroduced this summer provides a
path to permanent status for Afghan evacuees
with additional vetting and improves efforts
to protect Afghans left behind.
“The asylum process is a
lengthy process... which might take years.
The Afghan Adjustment Act will provide an
immediate solution,” explained Lina Jarour,
LL.M., IRC in Atlanta Legal Representative.
Asylum approval rates in Georgia are
also some of the lowest in the nation. So
far, only 18 IRC-GAIN clinic clients have
been granted asylum. One of the first was a
mother and young son.
“She is a minority targeted by the
Taliban,” Jarour said. “She cannot read or
write. She did not want that for her son.
Now his English is really good, and he helps
his mother.”
The Afghan Adjustment Act would
relieve pressure on a population eager to live
peacefully in the U.S.
“We know this group would be targeted
if they are forced to return to Afghanistan,”
Heffley said. “So many wouldn’t be safe or
be able to live a full life if they went back,
especially women and girls.”
“There’s strong bipartisan support,”
Sarwari said. “There is no reason not to pass
it. The alternative is to have a huge group of
people at some time in the future have no
status — nobody wants that.”
Learn more about IRC in Atlanta
at rescue.org/atlanta and GAIN at
georgiaasylum.org.
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