Help Afghan Asylum Seekers

From the dedicated folks at Pisgah Legal Services:

We need your help! Each of our Afghan asylum clients and any family members who are here with them must travel to Arlington, VA in the next few months for an asylum interview. Through the Afghan Asylum Project, Pisgah Legal Services is assisting dozens of Afghan clients to apply for asylum so they can remain in the U.S. permanently. These asylum seekers had to flee their homes immediately after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last August and would face certain persecution and death by the Taliban if they returned to Afghanistan.

Asylum is the only path to lawful permanent status in the U.S. for many Afghan evacuees, and they must apply within one year of arriving here. Pisgah Legal staff and more than 40 volunteers have been working furiously to give dozens of asylum seekers a chance at the safety and security of permanent U.S. residency. Many of our Afghan clients were forced to leave their families behind in Afghanistan and their wives and young children are in hiding there. Securing asylum will allow our clients to petition to bring their families to safety in the U.S. The wife of one of our clients “Abdul” gave birth to their first child soon after he fled; he has not met his son.

Pisgah Legal Services and local refugee resettlement agencies need volunteers to drive clients to and from Arlington for their interviews. This trip will require staying in that area for one or two nights. Funds are available to cover gas and hotel costs for volunteers. Without this transportation assistance, our clients will have to take a Greyhound bus and navigate a large city on their own. Most speak very little English, and we fear that without a volunteer to get them to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services they will not make it to their interview on time or at all and will lose their chance at securing asylum. We need your help with this critical phase of the asylum application process!

Pisgah Legal staffer Katie Russell Miller, who coordinates dozens of volunteer attorneys that are working to assist our Afghan clients, says, “Many of our Afghan clients had to leave their families and everything they’ve known because they worked for the U.S. military in Afghanistan. Now, they need our help. Together we can help them build a new life with their families here in WNC. The most important step right now is to help them secure asylum.”

To volunteer or learn more about this opportunity, please contact katierm@pisgahlegal.org.

Pisgah Legal is also seeking donations to support the costs of this project, specifically language services. Each asylum application requires multiple meetings between attorneys and their clients, and the interpretation costs are exceeding what we anticipated. You can make a donation online at https://bit.ly/PSLDonate and designate your gift to the “Afghan Asylum Project.”

In the image below - attorneys with a cause: Volunteer Attorney Rob Lamb (L) and Jacob Oakes, PLS Immigration Attorney and Program Director of the Justice for All Project.

We Need Your Help - August Matching Fundraiser

Sometimes it feels like we’ve gotten nothing but bad news the last few months. But no matter what, Indivisible Asheville / WNC is “all in” to continue to work diligently towards a safe, equitable future and truly representative democracy for all.

We can’t and we won’t stop now. But we can’t do it alone - we need your help. All gifts made between August 1st and 31st will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $500 total, by the national Indivisible organization. Now is the time to support Indivisible Asheville / WNC as we build our power and gear up for the rest of the year. Consider donating $5, $25, or more today at bit.ly/august-match. Thank you!

Help Elect Cheri Beasley

From the Buncombe County Young Democrats:

We are going to be door knocking for Cheri Beasley this Saturday! Would you mind passing along the information to your precinct members? They can sign up here: https://mobilize.us/s/Q85Pkm

We’ll be meeting at Buncombe Dems HQ around 9:30AM and after a short training session on MiniVan, we’ll hit the doors! Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for all you do,
Kristen Robinson
(828) 775 - 2232
She/Her/Hers
Regional Organizing Director-Coordinated Campaign,
Western North Carolina
Executive Vice President, Young Democrats of North Carolina
President, Buncombe County Young Democrats

Get ready for another "Ice Cream for Democracy" event! Details on that plus fundraising updates and a calendar FULL of upcoming events, in this week's email from Indivisible AVL: https://bit.ly/iavl-aug-15