U.S. expands Afghan refugee program as Taliban violence escalates
02 August 2021
The State Department announced Monday it is expanding grants of eligibility for refugee status in the U.S. for at-risk Afghans, citing an increase in violence by the Taliban ahead of the U.S. military's total withdrawal.
Why it matters: The Biden administration has faced pressure to do more to help Afghans who assisted the U.S. military over the course of the two-decade war. The expansion will allow thousands more Afghans and their family members to apply for permanent refugee resettlement, according to the State Department.
Details: The program covers Afghans who worked with the U.S. as locally-employed staff, including interpreters who didn't qualify for a special immigrant visa because they didn't work directly for the government or didn't hold government jobs long enough.
- The program will also be expanded to current and former employees of U.S.-based news organizations, people who worked for U.S. government-funded programs or on projects supported by U.S. grants or cooperative agreements, and people who worked for American-based aid groups.
- It covers current and former staff of the U.S. and NATO operations who previously didn't qualify.
- Afghans have to be nominated by a U.S. agency or by the most senior U.S. citizen employee at a U.S.-based media outlet or nongovernmental organization.
State of play: The first plane with more than 200 Afghans who served as interpreters, contractors or other ally roles for the U.S. military arrived in Virginia last week. More than 700 Afghan allies and their families are preparing to be brought into the U.S. in the coming days on special immigrant visas.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.