An African soldiers who sought asylum in the United States after the fall of Kabul in 2021, is still being held in an American prison, despite serious injuries, and congressional requests for his release .
Abdul Wasi Safi was trained by the US military to be a special operations officer in Afghanistan. When Kabul fell, Wasi went into hiding, hoping to eventually get a special visa to move legally to the United States.
In an attempt to reach the United States, Wasi traveled by foot and on a bus to 10 countries in Latin America, where he was killed. After arriving in the United States, he was arrested at the border trying to cross the Rio Grande.
Photo of Abdul Wasi Safi, an American-trained special forces soldier who escaped from Taliban rule, fled to Texas and was arrested for crossing the border to seek asylum.
(Sami-ullah Safi)
Jennifer Cervantes, Wasi’s attorney at the Immigration Office, said she was given little, if any, pain medication despite the serious injuries she suffered. while immigrating to America. Although he said he had not seen his medical records, he was told that his ears were bleeding, a tooth was broken, and another was starting to fall out.
Wasi came to the United States, Cervantes said, to escape death in Afghanistan. “What he found was intercepted by the Customs and Border Protection,” he added.
Photo of Abdul Wasi Safi, an American-trained special forces soldier who escaped from Taliban rule, fled to Texas and was arrested for crossing the border to seek asylum.
(Sami-ullah Safi)
“I was in a special commando unit with the US military,” Wasi told Fox News in a phone interview from the Eden Detention Center in Texas. “I wanted to come to America, I would not choose another country to help me because I was with them, but I come here, and they put me in prison.”
The threat to Wasi’s life, if he is deported to Afghanistan, is very real, Cervantes said. The Taliban have their biometric information, which was left by the US government. “He’s not going to be killed, but when,” he said.
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Photo of Abdul Wasi Safi, an American-trained special forces soldier who escaped from Taliban rule, fled to Texas and was arrested for crossing the border to seek asylum.
(Sami-ullah Safi)
Rep. Michael Waltz Wasi’s case was followed, and, with the Rep. Dan Crenshaw, sent a letter to the Biden administration in December requesting that Wasi be granted parole. He said he never got a response.
“It really takes one phone call from the Department of Defense,” Waltz told Fox News Digital. But, he added, “he just wanted out of Afghanistan,” so no action was taken.
“I really don’t want to go through this again,” he said.
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Wasi’s case shows the brokenness of US immigration policy, Waltz said, calling the situation “asinine.”
“If anyone has an asylum claim, it’s him.”
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin, Liz Friden, and Krista Garvin contributed to this report.