Amin Faqiry and his family arrived in Rhode Island on Oct. 30, 2021, and were met by supporters at T.F. Green International Airport. (Antonia Noori Farzan, The Providence Journal/TNS)
WARWICK, R.I. (Tribune News Service) — Standing by the baggage claim at T.F. Green International Airport, Amin Faqiry and Jonathan Dator hugged for a long time.
The two men had never met in person before. But Dator, a psychologist who works in the counseling center at Providence College, played a crucial role in helping Faqiry and his family flee Afghanistan after the fall of the government this summer.
Now, thanks to Dator’s help, Faqiry and his wife and four children are among first Afghan refugee families to arrive in Rhode Island since the Taliban takeover.
“I told him, dude, we’re going to feed you so much Afghan food once we settle down,” Faqiry joked on Saturday night, shortly after his flight landed.
Faqiry spent close to 10 years working as a combat interpreter for the U.S. military during the war in Afghanistan, which meant that his life was in imminent danger when the Taliban took charge. He had already spent years waiting for a special immigrant visa (SIV), which are awarded to Afghani and Iraqi translators who served the U.S. armed forces.
During that time, he had connected with Dator, who volunteered with a group named No One Left Behind. The organization helps former military translators and interpreters to navigate what’s often a slow and complicated visa application process.
Dator has never been to Afghanistan, but he learned about the plight of former combat interpreters while living in San Diego. Because he is legally blind, he relies on Ubers and taxis to get around, and many of the drivers he met were Afghans who had received special immigrant visas.
The SIV application process is “really a broken system,” Dator said on Saturday. By the time Kabul fell, Faqiry had been waiting to leave the country for five years, and was just missing one final piece of paperwork.
Dator lobbied Rhode Island’s congressional delegation on Faqiry’s behalf, asking them to intervene with the State Department.
Finally, in August, Faqiry and his wife and four children were able to board a flight to Qatar, where they were temporarily housed at a U.S. military base. They were then transported to McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, where they stayed for several months while being vetted for resettlement.
“We went through some bad days, and during those times, Jonathan has been like a family member,” Faqiry said. “So that meant the world to me.”
Faqiry had hoped to end up in Rhode Island so that he could live near Dator, whom he described as being “like a blood brother.”
“I’m just so inspired by what he does every day,” Faqiry said.
Amin Faqiry and supporters pose with the traditional flag of Afghanistan at T.F. Green International Airport. (Antonia Noori Farzan, The Providence Journal/TNS)
Faqiry’s wife is pregnant and due to give birth soon, and they have four other children — ages 2, 4, 6 and 10. (He asked that his wife not be named or photographed due to concerns for the safety of her family, who is still in Afghanistan.) They’ll be staying with a host family in the Providence area until they can find a permanent place to live.
“My life is going to be like a newborn baby here,” Faqiry said. The first priority will be getting the children enrolled in school, and he also hopes to continue his own education. He also wants to bring attention to the plight of other Afghans who are still trapped in the country.
“I want to be someone who can help other people,” he said, adding that he hopes to find a job that will allow him to send money back to his own relatives and other Afghans who have been unable to leave.
Because of the housing crunch, Rhode Island is not among the top states for refugee resettlement, but the Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island expects to welcome a handful of additional families in the coming months.
“The biggest thing with resettlement is housing,” Dator said. But Faqiry and his family will also need furniture, clothing, and help getting to his wife’s doctors’ appointments. People looking to help can contact the Dorcas Institute, especially if they have household items to donate.
“To me, that’s the biggest thing they can do — along with meeting the family and making them feel welcome,” Dator said. “The other stuff gets figured out when people feel welcome.”
Fresh off the plane and ready to take his first few breaths of Rhode Island air, Faqiry said that he and his family couldn’t be more thrilled to be here.
“We couldn’t even feel the bumps, we were so excited,” Faqiry said.
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