The father of 5 fled to Pakistan with his family in 2021. There, Zia applied for an #SIV, while his youngest brother—already a US citizen—applied for #humanitarian parole on Zia’s behalf.
In April 2024, the #State Dept approved Zia’s SIV application, acc/to a letter from the US Embassy in Kabul. He also received humanitarian parole that year, which temporarily granted him & his family entry into the #US.

#Trump #immigration #law#USmilitary #betrayal

After #Kabul fell to the #Taliban in August 2021, President Joe #Biden’s admin moved to resettle #Afghans who had worked for the #US government through the Special Immigrant #Visa (#SIV) program, which grants lawful permanent resident status & a pathway to US #citizenship. As of April, about 25k Afghans had received an SIV, & another 160k had pending applications, said Adam Bates, an attorney with the International #Refugee Assistance Program who analyzed #State Dept data.

#immigration #law

Zia worked as an #interpreter & cultural adviser at Camp Mike Spann in Mazar-e Sharif, #Afghanistan, from about 2005 until 2009, Petersen, his attorney, told The Post.
Because of his work, Zia “suffered & continues to suffer threats to the life & property of himself & his family members by enemy forces & criminal elements,” says a recommendation letter from a supervisor who oversaw Zia’s interpreter work.

#Trump #immigration #law#USmilitary #betrayal

The father of 5 fled to Pakistan with his family in 2021. There, Zia applied for an #SIV, while his youngest brother—already a US citizen—applied for #humanitarian parole on Zia’s behalf.
In April 2024, the #State Dept approved Zia’s SIV application, acc/to a letter from the US Embassy in Kabul. He also received humanitarian parole that year, which temporarily granted him & his family entry into the #US.

#Trump #immigration #law#USmilitary #betrayal

As the admin seeks to fulfill #Trump’s pledge to carry out the largest #deportation op in #US history, attys for the men say their clients — #Afghans who fear retribution from the #Taliban for their work assisting the US in its 20-yr war in #Afghanistan — have found themselves in the crosshairs of #ICE. The attys provided WaPo with #military #contracts & certificates, #asylum & #visa applications, recommendation letters & other records that described both men’s work on behalf of #USmilitary….

After #Kabul fell to the #Taliban in August 2021, President Joe #Biden’s admin moved to resettle #Afghans who had worked for the #US government through the Special Immigrant #Visa (#SIV) program, which grants lawful permanent resident status & a pathway to US #citizenship. As of April, about 25k Afghans had received an SIV, & another 160k had pending applications, said Adam Bates, an attorney with the International #Refugee Assistance Program who analyzed #State Dept data.

#immigration #law

The #Trump admin has declined to release nearly $7 billion in federal #funding for #schools that helps pay for after-school & summer programs, support for #students learning English, #teacher training & other services.

The money, which was already allocated by #Congress, was expected to be released by Tuesday. But in an email on Monday, the Trump #Education Department notified #state education agencies that the money would not be available.

#law #policy #idiocracy
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/us/trump-education-funds.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

The #Trump admin has declined to release nearly $7 billion in federal #funding for #schools that helps pay for after-school & summer programs, support for #students learning English, #teacher training & other services.

The money, which was already allocated by #Congress, was expected to be released by Tuesday. But in an email on Monday, the Trump #Education Department notified #state education agencies that the money would not be available.

#law #policy #idiocracy
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/us/trump-education-funds.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

The actions come as #Trump & his top aides seek to bend #academic institutions to their #ideological beliefs. The #State Dept’s public diplomacy office is run by #DarrenBeattie, a political appointee who was fired from a job during the first Trump admin after he gave a talk at a #WhiteNationalist conference. He has made social media posts on white grievances, including one saying “competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.”…

#law#Fulbright #authoritarianism

The actions come as #Trump & his top aides seek to bend #academic institutions to their #ideological beliefs. The #State Dept’s public diplomacy office is run by #DarrenBeattie, a political appointee who was fired from a job during the first Trump admin after he gave a talk at a #WhiteNationalist conference. He has made social media posts on white grievances, including one saying “competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.”…

#law#Fulbright #authoritarianism

The board is also concerned that the budget that Secretary of #State#MarcoRubio is requesting from #Congress for the next fiscal
year #cuts spending for the Bureau of #Educational & #Cultural Affairs, which includes the #Fulbright program, to $50 million from $691 million this fiscal year. [Holy crap!!! That’s insane]

#law#FirstAmendment#AcademicFreedom#SeparationOfPowers#Trump #tyranny#AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism#AmericanAutocracy

In addition, the #State Dept is reviewing the applications of about 1,200 scholars from other countries who have already been approved by the board to come to the #UnitedStates, the people said. Those foreign #scholars were also supposed to receive acceptance letters around April.

#law#Fulbright#FirstAmendment#AcademicFreedom#SeparationOfPowers#Trump #tyranny#AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism#AmericanAutocracy

The board approved those scholars over the winter after a yearlong selection process, & the #State Dept was supposed to send acceptance letters by April, the people said. 🚨🚨🚨 But instead, the board learned that the office of public diplomacy at the agency had begun sending REJECTION letters to the #scholars based mainly on their #research topics, they said.

#law#Fulbright#FirstAmendment#AcademicFreedom#SeparationOfPowers#Trump #tyranny#AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism#AmericanAutocracy

The members are concerned that political appointees at the #State Dept, which manages the program, are acting illegally by canceling the awarding of #Fulbright #scholarships to almost 200 American #professors & #researchers who are prepared to go to #universities & other #research institutions overseas starting this summer, …including Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).

#law#FirstAmendment#AcademicFreedom#SeparationOfPowers#Trump #tyranny#AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism#AmericanAutocracy

There were numerous scenes of protesters throwing rocks or other objects at law enforcement officers & setting cars ablaze, including a number of self-driving #Waymo taxis. At the same time, false images spread to revive old #ConspiracyTheories that the #protests were a planned provocation, not a spontaneous response to the #immigration raids.

#MediaLiteracy#SocialMedia #moderation#TrumpLies#Trump #propaganda #disinformation#LosAngeles#LAprotests #immigration #protests

The confrontation escalated on Monday as new #protests occurred & #Defense Secy #PeteHegseth announced—on X—that he was mobilizing 700 #Marines from a base near #LosAngeles to guard federal bldgs. They are expected to join 2k members of the #California#NationalGuard whom #Trump ordered deployed without the authorization of the #state’s #governor, #GavinNewsom, who normally [legally] has command of the #troops.

#MediaLiteracy#SocialMedia #moderation #propaganda #disinformation#LAprotests

Agents of #billionaire#ElonMusk’s #DOGE have gained access to highly restricted government records on millions of federal employees — including #Treasury & #State Dept officials in sensitive #security positions — as part of a broader effort to wrest control over the government’s main personnel agency, according to 4 US officials with direct knowledge of the developments.
#law#USpol#NationalSecurity#Trump#TrumpCoup