Keeping Our Promise
Two years since Kabul fell to the Taliban, tens of thousands of Afghans are still waiting for visas to come to the United States. Those visas, called Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs), were promised to Afghans who worked with the U.S. government, military, media, and aid agencies during the war. The approval process is a long one and filled with red tape, and while families wait, their lives are threatened by the Taliban.
Rochester is home to a growing community of Afghan refugees thanks to the work of the nonprofit Keeping Our Promise. This hour, we talk with some of Rochester’s newest residents about state of the SIV process, what life has been like in America, and what they’d like to see back in their home country. Our guests:
- Ellen Smith, executive director of Keeping Our Promise
- Fahim Ebrat, Afghan native who came to the U.S. on a Special Immigrant Visa
- Abdul Rahim Rahim, Afghan native who came to the U.S. on a Special Immigrant Visa
