WBUR – Former Afghan interpreter for U.S. military detained by ICE after routine immigration appointment July 22, 2025 Jesús Marrero Suárez Massachusetts Rep. Bill Keating called Zia’s detention “inexcusable.” “ If we don’t speak up, if we don’t act, if we don’t let the laws of this country and the word of the United States government mean anything, that’ll be the message going forward: It doesn’t matter if you play by the rules. It doesn’t matter that you risk your lives. It doesn’t matter whether you trusted the military people that you were working with. None of that matters,” Keating said.
My letter to reps (who are Republicans and John Fetterman whatever you want to call him):
Why is the US government still penalizing people who helped the US military in Afghanistan? It’s unacceptable that Afghan interpreters are being detained by ICE. They should have full legal status no questions asked after the sacrifices these people made, no matter what’s happened before or since, or what they’re accused of. And if they are accused of something, it should be handled in the US legal system, not by some immigration agency. These people aren’t immigrants, they’re Americans by any moral definition, and should’ve all been given citizenship by default after serving the US military in such a way. I don’t even know anyone from Afghanistan, nor anyone personally who served in the US military operation in Afghanistan, but this stuff really pisses me off because the way these Afghan interpreters have been treated, and keep being treated year after year, is just a clownish epitome of unfair treatment and betrayal. Not just mistreatment and betrayal of the Afghan interpreters themselves, but to the US military veterans who have to live with the experiences and injuries of their service, and then on top of that live with how interpreters who helped them have been treated by the government who employed them. Elected representatives should be doing something to correct this.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose for your own letters to reps.