Congress must pass the Afghan Adjustment Act. Our allies need permanent legal status

You really need to hear this radio interview. I think this guy was with David when he was killed.

I was watching the news when my friend’s text rang, catching me completely off guard. On the television screen, Kabul had fallen into the hands of the Taliban and the whole of Afghanistan was in turmoil.

Turmoil is also a good way to describe the emotions I felt when I listened to this interview on the radio. It was “Reggie” in Afghanistan on the NPR show describing his service as a linguist for our military and the danger his family was in if they didn’t come out.

Reggie served with my husband, Major Walter David Gray, in the Air Force, and was with him when David and three others were killed by suicide bombers in Kunar Province on August 8, 2012.

After listening, I called my friend Captain Florent Groberg who was also with David at the time of the attack and later received the Medal of Honor for his actions on that fateful day. He confirmed that the man we were hearing on the radio was indeed “our guy”.

With this confirmation, my family sprang into action, working with others, in the United States and Afghanistan, to get Reggie, his wife and their four young children through the gauntlet outside of the HKIA airport in Kabul and on a military plane.

What ensued could only be described as hell on earth for Reggie and his family: shots rang out for crowd control, human excrement and bodily fluids were everywhere, the 100+ degree weather was hitting them. and Reggie’s youngest child was almost crushed. death by the crowd. After many attempts to navigate the chaos, a military angel found Reggie’s family and helped them. Around midnight on August 18, his family finally made it through Abbey Gate onto the airport grounds.

They left their homeland with only the clothes they were wearing and their identity papers. It would be nearly November before Reggie’s family was resettled in Fort Worth where his brother lives.

My family traveled four hours to Fort Worth to meet them. Our church family collected donations to provide Reggie’s family with everything they needed to start a home. When the hostess of the Fort Worth Airbnb we stayed in heard why we were in town, she rallied her community and they, too, provided bedding, groceries, clothing, and toys.

As we worked side by side assembling furniture, Reggie showed me scars from the battle that killed my husband. As he told the stories of the many battles he fought in alongside our military, a car flipped outside and he instinctively lowered himself to the ground. He is still struggling with head trauma and PTSD.

A few weeks later, I brought my current husband and kids to spend Thanksgiving with Reggie’s family. Despite the language barrier and our different religions and cultures, we celebrated as one big family because that’s who we are.

Reggie now has a paid job. Her children are in school and their English is improving day by day. While still in Afghanistan, he had applied for a special immigrant visa available to certain Afghans employed by the U.S. government, but since his case is still not complete, he is in the United States with only temporary status. to live here. He is one of the Afghan allies who need Congress to pass the Afghan Adjustment Law.

So many military families have become, like ours, great Afghan-American families in heart, but also in blood. The blood shed on the battlefield unites us as much as the common blood that runs through our veins.

That’s why veterans are desperate to see politicians who claim to care about the US military keep their words of “thank you for your service” by passing the long-awaited Afghan adjustment law. The adoption of the bill is threatened. Our policy of division threatens America’s loyalty to its promises to our allies, allies who have shed blood with us. Allies who are our families.

Subject to rigorous security screening, the Afghan Adjustment Act paves the way for permanent legal status for Afghans like Reggie who entered the United States under temporary status. It is also helping Afghans not yet here by expanding eligibility for special immigrant visas to include some highly trained military personnel who have fought with U.S. forces, and by establishing an interagency task force for much-needed intra-governmental coordination.

The bill could be included in the omnibus spending bill and voted on early next week, provided there is bipartisan support.

Every time we see Reggie, he reminds my children that their father died a hero. I’m sure David would say he was just doing his job and that Reggie was the real hero for risking his life to serve alongside our military. In honor of these two heroes, the Afghan Adjustment Act must be passed.

Heather Gray Blalock is co-founder of Allied Shepherd and wife of Air Force Gold Star. She remarried a widower and their blended family is active in homeless ministry and foreign missions. She wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News.

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