This migrant crossed half the world clinging to some papers that should grant him asylum in the United States. He now he is imprisoned

By Juan A. Lozano —

Abdul Wasi Safi kept the documents, which detailed his time as an Afghan soldier working with the US military, as he made a treacherous nearly month-long journey from Brazil to the US-Mexico border.

He fled his country fearing reprisals from the Taliban after the US withdrawal in August 2021, hoping those papers would guarantee him asylum.

Despite the thick jungle, raging rivers, and beatings, he kept the documents safe.

But after crossing the border in September near Eagle Pass, Texas, he was captured and jailed at a detention center in Eden, Texas, and now fears his asylum application will be denied.

His brother, lawyers, military organizations and a bipartisan group of lawmakers working to free him believe his case illustrates how the chaotic military withdrawal continues to hurt Afghans who helped the United States but were left behind.

Photos of Abdul Wasi Safi on a table as his brother Sami-ullah Safi talks about him, on Jan. 18, 2023, in Houston. David J. Phillip / AP

“He tried by all means to keep the papers in the hope that once […] presenting his documents at the border […] he would receive a warm welcome and his service would be appreciated and recognized,” explained his brother, Sami-ullah Safi.

Wasi Safi, 27, was an intelligence officer with the Afghan Security Forces, providing US forces with information on terrorists, said Sami-ullah Safi, 29.

If returned to Afghanistan,

could be killed by the Taliban,

who since taking power have killed more than 100 Afghan officials and members of the security forces, according to the UN.

“It is shameful that we have treated people who helped protect our country like this,” said his attorney, Jennifer Cervantes.

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Sami Safi worked for the US Army as a translator, qualifying him for a

for interpreters that allowed him to move to Houston, Texas in 2015. but his brother was not eligible for that visa because he was not directly employed by the United States .

After the US withdrawal, Wasi Safi went into hiding and learned that friends in the Afghan Army had been killed by the Taliban.

Sami-ullah Safi holds photographs of his brother, Abdul Wasi Safi. David J. Phillip / AP

He got a visa to travel to Brazil in 2022, but he wasn't safe there either: he and other migrants were beaten and robbed by gangs.

That summer he began his trip to the United States.

When he crossed a huge river in the Darien Gap, the forbidding and dangerous stretch of thick jungle between Colombia and Panama, Wasi Safi carried a backpack with his documents over his head, so they wouldn't get wet.

When Guatemalan police officers tried to extort money from him and took his backpack, Wasi Safi endured their beatings until he got the documents back, according to his brother.

On his journey, Wasi Safi suffered severe injuries from the beatings, including damage to his front teeth and loss of hearing in his right ear.

Zachary Fertitta, one of his defense lawyers, claims that Wasi Safi has not received adequate medical attention during his detention.

He has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for medical care if he is released.

Sami Safi said her brother has become disillusioned since his arrest, believing that the documents he thought would save him are worthless.

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But Fertitta said the documents show he "is clearly an ally": "He was trained by our troops, he worked with our troops."

Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee last week sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to pardon Wasi Safi because his documents show that he is “an individual who obviously loved this country […] and was willing to die for it.” this country".

Republican Congressmen Dan Crenshaw of Texas and Michael Waltz of Florida, as well as more than 20 veterans' groups, have also called for Wasi Safi's release while his asylum application is reviewed.

The White House declined to comment Friday, referring questions to the Justice Department and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

At a news briefing on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said he could not comment on the Wasi Safi case, but that the Department of Defense "supports any effort we can make to ensure that we are taking adequate care" of the country's Afghan allies.

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Fertitta said Wasi Safi's criminal case has to be resolved first before his asylum application can be considered, and he hopes that resolution does not include a conviction, which could jeopardize the asylum application.

Nearly 76,000 Afghans who have worked with US soldiers since 2001 as translators, interpreters and collaborators have arrived in the United States on military planes following the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

But his immigration status remains unclear after Congress failed to pass a bill that would have consolidated his legal residency status.

Fertitta said the Wasi Safi case highlights the country's “broken immigration system” and its inability to help Afghan allies.

“All of these things collide at our border and it's a very difficult problem to solve,” Fertitta said.

Sami Safi is hopeful.

“I hope President Biden and those in authority over this case will step up and save her life.

He has sacrificed so much for this country.

My entire family has sacrificed for this country,” he stated.