HEMPSTEAD, Long Island (WABC) — Last week’s shooting that targeted National Guard members in Washington, D.C. has re-ignited the national debate on immigration, and has sparked fear among immigrant communities on Long Island.
After the attack, the Trump administration ordered a review of all Afghans in the U.S. with green cards, and now with their citizenship in limbo, some of them are fearing for their lives, including some on Long Island.
The suspect who targeted two members of the National Guard was an Afghan national – the fallout for which Melanie Creps of the CARECEN Immigration Center calls “beyond heartbreaking.”
Immigration advocates say it’s particularly heartbreaking for those who come from 19 different countries, deemed a concern by the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump minced no words, and announced a pause on all asylum decisions, a review of green cards from those countries and an indefinite halt on applications filed by Afghan nationals.
“I feel so bad…I feel no safety,” said Rumi, and Afghan immigrant.
Rumi, 30, is an Uber driver living in Nassau County. Rumi, like many others, helped the American military on a base in Kabul. He was a contractor, securing police vehicles used to fight the Taliban.
Rumi told Eyewitness News that he had been helping the American military for two years and five months.
“After that, the Taliban attacked me,” Rumi said.
He was granted Special Immigrant Visa Status, but had to flee for his life in 2023, before it arrived.
“Like I lost my life. I lost my everything,” he said.
“He helped our government there, and he bonded. I mean, when you hear some of the language he used of ‘family,’ ‘we drank coffee together, we ate dinner together, we were family,'” Creps said.
But now, like thousands of Afghans, Rumi is in legal limbo.
Rumi says that if the government were to force him to go back, he said he would “want to die,” because he says no one would help him there when the Taliban comes.
“When the Taliban cut… cutting my body,” Rumi said.
“He wanted the U.S. to be a homecoming. And now he’s facing fear and hostility,” Creps said.
Advocates in the immigrant community told Eyewitness News, this latest crackdown is more than just a setback. It feels like blunt force trauma, at a time when judges in immigration court have been fired, backlogging cases even further, and prolonging fears.
“There’s been such a backlog recently, that many applicants have to wait many years – two, three, five, and it could even be up to 10 years,” said Alexander Holtzman of Hofstra Law School.
For Rumi and all those who helped America, it’s both waiting and wondering if America will now, help them.
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