Former Afghan Interpreter in New Jersey Smuggled Afghan 'Security Risk' Over Texas-Mexico Border: Here's What We Know
By Todd Bensman on August 6, 2019
The United States has long bestowed immigration rewards on Iraqis and Afghans who assist our troops in "War on Terror" combat zones. Our government has granted special immigrant visas and legal permanent residence in America, for instance, to thousands of Iraqi and Afghan linguists, logistics personnel, and forward operating base employees who might be targeted for their service to our cause, especially after significant U.S. troop withdrawals.
Too often, though, some of the beneficiaries have repaid the favor with betrayal.
Another such case surfaced late last week, when the Department of Justice published a press release about a new indictment alleging that Mujeeb Rahman Saify, a former Afghan interpreter for U.S. forces, conspired (while living in New Jersey) with a Pakistan-based smuggling network to transport at least two other Afghans through Mexico and over the U.S. southern border in 2016 and 2017. Of special significance in the case is the allegation that one of the Afghans whose smuggling Saify is alleged to have successfully arranged was an interpreter fired from U.S. Army employment as a security threat and who had been denied one of the special immigrant visas on that basis.
https://cis.org/Bensman/Former-Afghan-Interpreter-New-Jersey-Smuggled-Afghan-Security-Risk-Over-TexasMexico-Border
