Hughes Hubbard Wins Asylum for Afghan Family that Fled ISIS and the Taliban

March 2024 – The firm recently won asylum for a family of eight who fled Afghanistan to escape death threats from members of ISIS and the Taliban.

The client’s husband was the head of the medical branch office of the Afghan police and worked alongside the U.S. Army from 2002 until his retirement in 2013, training Afghan soldiers and advising U.S. Army personnel on battlefield information, the development of the Afghan border police administration and medical practices to help troops fighting the Taliban.

Throughout his time working with the U.S. Army, he received threats of violence from the Taliban and ISIS. In December 2015, ISIS kidnapped him and told his family that they would torture him as retaliation for helping the U.S. Army and he was eventually killed.

In August 2021, following U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban regained control of the country and freed ISIS prisoners from jails. Once freed, the ISIS members who murdered him began calling his family and threatening to kill them in retaliation for his work with the U.S. Army. The family was forced to flee Afghanistan and was eventually granted humanitarian parole and safe passage to the U.S. on a series of U.S. military planes and a U.S. government-chartered flight.

In August 2022, Hughes Hubbard filed applications for asylum for all eight family members, which were granted between August and October 2023. Since securing asylum for the family, the firm has filed green card applications on behalf of each family member.

The Hughes Hubbard team that secured asylum for the family was led by Talia L. Helfrick, with assistance from Neil J. Oxford, Dustin P. Smith, Fara Tabatabai, Amina Hassan, James Henseler, Katherine Taylor, and Jessica Lagnado. Kevin Carroll represented the family during their asylum interviews. Libby Ro, paralegal Rachel Marks, and pro bono coordinator Ana Mello assisted the Hughes Hubbard asylum team with preparation of the family’s green card applications.