Afghan ‘hopeful’ after release from jail

Abdul Wasi Safi fought alongside American soldiers in Afghanistan, but he was left behind when the country fell. When he finally reached the United States, after making a perilous journey from Brazil, he was arrested. Standing with Safi in a downtown Houston federal building, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said that’s not how the United States treats brothers in arms.

For weeks, Jackson Lee and others called for Safi to be freed and honored for his service. Now, he finally has been.

“American made a promise, and America kept her promise,” she said at a news conference Friday marking his release.

Criminal charges against Safi were dropped two days earlier. The former Afghan soldier who fled to the U.S. to escape the Taliban regime had been arrested and charged for illegally crossing into the country.

Safi had been jailed since presenting himself to U.S. Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border in September.

Jackson Lee said that instead of being put through the asylum-seeking process, Safi was charged because he didn’t present himself at a legal port of entry. He was facing an expedited deportation process.

Safi enlisted in the Afghan army months before the U.S. military withdrew and the country fell to the Taliban, according to the Texas Tribune. He lived in hiding in Afghanistan for nearly a year before sneaking out of the country and flying to Brazil. From there, Safi joined a caravan that traveled though South and Central America before reaching Texas.

Safi’s story came to light in December and sparked an outpouring of support for him and his family. Jackson Lee and other lawmakers called on the Department of Defense and other agencies to investigate Safi’s bona fides as a soldier and wrote

to President Joe Biden, urging him to issue a pardon. Ultimately, it was a federal judge in Texas who dismissed the immigration case against him.

Safi said that if he stayed in Afghanistan, he faced torture or death at the hands of the Taliban.

Safi is now being treated as an asylum seeker, officials said. He said he hoped to find a job in the U.S. to support his family, including six sisters, back in Afghanistan.

The trauma of his experience might not be easily forgotten, however. He said he was mocked and bullied during his time in custody at an immigration detention center, and he constantly worried he would be sent back to his home country.

He said that during his first night sleeping in his brother’s Houston apartment, he was awakened by sirens. He stirred, thinking that police were coming to arrest him again.

“I’m relieved to be standing with you all today,” Safi said. “I’m hopeful about the next step in this process and one day being able to live the American Dream.”

Jackson Lee said she planned to invite Safi to Washington, D.C., to testify about his experiences. She said she also hoped the attention on his story would help spur administrative changes on how Afghan nationals, especially other soldiers, are treated if they show up at the southern border.

Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Abdul Wasi Safi, a former Afghan soldier who helped the U.S. military in Afghanistan, marks his release Friday in Houston.