Immigration KYR for Afghans
VAAP was honored to join the Vermont Afghan Alliance's inaugural legal rights training event at their Burlington office designed to empower Afghan community members through essential legal education on topics such as interactions with law enforcement, family rights, bias incidents, and immigration law.
VAAP had the privilege of presenting Know Your Rights (KYR) training to over 50 attendees between the multilingual women’s and men’s groups, focusing on critical immigration topics for Afghan parolees, SIV petitioners, and asylum seekers navigating their paths toward family reunification and permanent residency.
VAAP’s presentation answered pressing questions like:
What impact does a criminal charge have on my immigration status?
Will I be deported if I’m charged with a crime?
VAAP shared insights on immigration consequences, lawful permanent residency (green card) eligibility, and maintaining immigration safety from legal deportability grounds. Highlights included:
Filing Form I-485 after one year of asylum status in the U.S.
Understanding grounds of deportability under INA § 237, such as criminal convictions or false citizenship claims.
The distinction between permanent residency and citizenship, emphasizing the responsibilities and risks that come with both statuses.
Using visuals and accessible language, VAAP guided participants through core concepts:
U.S. law treats immigration as a privilege, not a right. Even “permanent” residence isn’t truly permanent, because it can be taken away.
Convictions are not always required for law enforcement encounters to trigger deportation proceedings.
Deportation proceedings do not benefit from the Constitutional protections afforded other proceedings where “punishments” are rendered.
Individuals can contact VAAP for immigration legal help and follow our Dari-translatable website and social media to stay connected.
VAAP remains committed to supporting Vermont’s Afghan community through free legal services, public education, and advocacy. As a resource hub, we recruit, train, and mentor pro bono legal advocates to meet the pressing needs of humanitarian status-seekers including people from Afghanistan.
