special ill of a to tango. his music is now part of when a site is a city that in a beginning rejected him but that today celebrates his art. i did see that one aside and. finally want to add that to be an april fools prank by one of the world's largest car makers has backfired volkswagen says that it was renaming its u.s. operations vaults dog and. signaling a focus on electric vehicles approved anger on social media among those who pointed to the company's diesel emissions scandal that attempts to mislead customers the company says it's sorry for the upset and confusion that the prank caused. it's good to be with us hello adrian for the get here in doha the headlines on

al-jazeera at least 36 people are dead after a train derailed in eastern taiwan it came off the tracks in a tunnel dozens of people have been taken to hospital there were 350 passengers on board. george floyd's girlfriends testified about their struggles with addiction during the trial of the former us police officer accused of his murder derrick cho vince defense team argues that drug use was the major factor in floyd's death we both suffer from chronic pain. mine was in my neck in it but. we both had prescription. but. after prescription. filled and. we believe we got addicted. an independent them voice will look into the conduct of

dutch prime minister mark ruta m.p.'s approved a motion of disapproval against him saying that he hadn't told the truth about remarks made during negotiations to form a new coalition but he did survive a separate vote of no confidence the world health organization has criticised the european union's vaccination rollout has unacceptably slow this it says risks prolonging the pandemic as variance spread fact scenes that are available to anyone over the age of 45 in india india's government is racing to inoculate its citizens as infections continue to rise jobs were previously restricted to the over 60 of those with serious health conditions and the u.s. is warning russia against intimidating its neighbors on verified social media video suggests that russia is moving tanks and other equipment to areas bordering ukraine and the region of crimea which moscow annexed in 2014. 0 after the stream

next. see there will be no closure until justice is and the identities of those people highly the bombings are revealed with detailed coverage there's something else significant about this it represents and then there's a whole dividing line between the wealthier and the poor from around the world the man who knelt on his neck in his friend the week in the minneapolis courtroom with a board selecting jurors to decide if he should be convicted of murder. hi i'm for me ok welcome to the stream today we're going to be talking about a special immigrant visa program it was created for people who assisted the united states military in afghanistan and iraq but it hasn't gone smoothly there has been a big sloan's out like a try on pat why but there is extra urgency right now because the united states

military is due to leave afghanistan at the beginning of may and if the special immigrant visa program is slow what does that mean for the people who may well be left behind earlier we spoke to betsy fisher she summed up the current situation. people who worked directly for the u.s. government shouldn't be in this situation congress made a visa program and instructed the pieces should be processed in no more than 9 months the average time is more like 4 years and many people wait far longer than that unfortunately we're aware of several clients who have faced danger and one who has been recently assassinated after 10 years of waiting for the suppression this is not the 1st time the united states has gone to war why is the situation even happening that's one question as my question what are your questions if you're watching on you tube jumping to the comment section be part of today's show.

joining us to help us on pack what is going on with a special immigrant visas we have came we have matt came out welcome to the stream team introduce yourself to an international audience what do they need to know about you. kim's to fieri the founder of the association of wartime. we have a private face group we spoke with about 9500 us ids and desperately looking for answers and help to get the reeses processed in a more timely manner he says he came she sounding exhausted and frustrated with find out why in just a moment how did that not great to have you introduce yourself to international audience i mean. the only reason i'm even sitting here talking to. my afghan interpreter janis you are you saved my life in a battle back in 2008 when he killed 2 taliban fighters who were about to kill me i

mean it promised that i could ever repay that life debt to him i would he eventually asked me to help get him his visa and in so doing i were just how difficult it was for folks like you and us to get over here and together we ended up founding in organization called no one what. back in 2013 which is help the over 50000 people get their visas and move to the united states and start their lives here so we also asked the united states state department to be part of this program they sent us a particular statement just for this conversation it starts here the biden administration is deeply committed to supporting those that helped us in the chain of the government has now performed often at great personal risk to themselves and their families that is a good start but what he's going wrong why special immigrant visa program not working as it was designed to work. well not not to play partisan politics but

to give facts that have been reported. the last 4 years basically basically there was an effort to start out the program. in as much as for the 1st 3 and a half years there wasn't even a coordinator overseeing the program. you've got 4 or 5 different departments that are supposed to work together they had no one coordinating this effort they are understaffed the applicants have increased by 50 percent and staffing has not increased since 2016 that in and of itself is one of the largest problems that we see in this program that was the biggest problem i mean you seem to change yourself as i wouldn't even be happy if it wasn't for all the passengers saved my life and there are many people like that in afghanistan and iraq yes so the tears here's

the reality of this we watched the wars in iraq and afghanistan being able to sit cheap injectors that we started out to achieve great in afghanistan it was to leave behind a country that was absent of the taliban they survived the outlets they outlasted us and they're going to likely inherit in afghanistan after we depart the reality that is that the people who friended us the people who partnered with us are going to be murdered by the very people that we asked them to help fight against if we don't do something right now to evacuate them. the way that i describe it is there is a train crash coming we all can see it the train is about to derail off of the tracks it is going to hit a village we chant sooth the people on the train they're likely going to die but we might be able to evacuate that village if we start right now and that's what you and i have done we've written a reporter to help the by an administration begin the immediate evacuation of our

afghan war time allies from afghanistan starting today to begin the processing of these individuals to get to the united states and if necessary to move them to a nother part of the world outside of the united states where they can reside there until we can figure out their visa situation because the reality is when collapse comes in afghanistan it is likely going to happen faster than washington can react to it and these people will be our last priority when it comes time to evacuate and when to show our audience to stories that are very relevant to what we're talking about right now so here's the 1st one afghanistan's taliban us sign an agreement to end the war at the moment the u.s. should be leaving the military ship and moving afghanistan made with us at the moment 2nd story here but i don't have ministration to review that u.s. help and dale so maybe the china is going a little bit slower than you think to usual method format but you need to it's not

that some head shaking his head matt and came when you put together a report for the by the administration you were saying here's the problem this is what you have to tame reaction. we need immediate and urgent action from the biden ministration there is no more time even if we keep troops in afghanistan for another 4 or 6 even 12 months we've got 18000 applicants in this system and as you heard betty fisher say the average it's 4 years to process a visa is supposed to be done in 9 months or less that is possible if the program is properly funded properly staffed and properly managed and we would have to start now but it won't matter to the rate we have to start processing them now but this is what our port says which no one else does we take it a step further we acknowledge that if we're able to process these people's visas in 9 months it won't matter if 9 months from now they're all dead they have to be

evacuated now this isn't vietnam you know when when when we lost the war in vietnam we had the luxury of being able to have that you 8 people to ships waiting at sea we don't have that in afghanistan it's a landlocked country and we are the soviet union we don't get the luxury of driving north into tajikistan when the war is over we're likely going to have to fly out while under fire there are 4 maybe 5 year fields in the whole country that can handle that type of lift which means if we don't begin getting these people out now when it comes time to actually evacuated our merican personnel want to quit then afghan interpreters and their families are not going to get the steers seats that are going to be available on the few flights that will be able to make it out before the taliban take over the radio yes in fact i think season starts next month so that's why this is so urgent i'm just going to bring in some some comments from you and came having spies say this is the u.s.

government contract is working with the united states intel protests and come back in top this deserve to immigrate to the u.s. . another one here oh goodness. living a survival life here in afghanistan after working with the united states for 3 yes this is a bass so i want to share that with your audience and also came a mat and a bass is now living in the united states but he's concerned about intel protests who are not in the u.s. right now still hoping to get a visa have a look after this i'm currently in contact with a dozen iraqi translators who have faced a series of threats that cause them to move constantly from one place to another to stay alive for most of them their lives has been an escape and run from place to another says the u.s. pulled out the troops from iraq and those who can't afford it they go into another

country rushes through the e.u. and wait for refugee status and those who cannot afford it they may move to another city province or another part of town so basically there are living in fear. for the rest of their lives if they don't get a visa to come here. what are the stories that you will hear of the people who are waiting for their visas well i'll speak specifically to some of the iraqis i hear from what he just said is absolutely true. i have received calls many times in the middle of my night because of the time difference. when people have been attacked when there are attacks happening right around them at the time they're speaking to me and they are literally begging for help for their lives and this should never happen it should never have happened especially the iraqi programs. they're in big trouble and we need to do something about this what now. well let me

just go back to the statement from the u.s. state department. contribution to ash and today everyone involved in the special immigrant visa process whether in washington at the national visa center or at our embassy in kabul and baghdad fully aware of the threats that afghan and iraqi coleen's town face they are away from know about what i say. right now. not enough there they've currently announced that they're undergoing a 6 month review of the program and then they're going to decide what happens next fighting season starts in april this month in afghanistan i know because i served in afghanistan and i served in the part of the country where fighting season kicks off and stops with the weather that's most of the country the reality is we don't have 6 months to wait for you to be done we need to begin to that the waiting now we need to begin planning for it now and we also quite frankly need congress to do something kim's right these visas are going to ultimately have to be issued and

processed there are enough of them that have been allocated for whatever reason we've decided to ease or somehow a finite resource that can once mined disappear but they're not there they're a figment of our creation we could just make more so congress needs to pass a law that says that anybody who qualifies for a visa from iraq or afghanistan if they can go through the gauntlet of actually proving they've earned one should get one there should be a japanese war and the program should have a sunset provision you know right now the afghan these are program runs out at the end of this year it needs yet another congressional authorization to stay alive it should in reality be tied to the end of our need for a program there should be some arbitrary date that we're setting. these are simple to implement steps that could be undertaken right now congress could write a lot and pass it this week the by dinner is ration has our report that had it for 2 and a half months now they know what they need to do they don't have to wait 6 months if they. do there just going and getting our enemies more time to hunt down your

friends and american friendship should not come with a death sentence so we can let me what you said which is that you can just make more visas you don't have to have a set number but i'm just looking hand my laptop ficus here so we call afghan special immigrant us fees is and we've got 5 of the 15000 issued overall and there are 7000 visas remaining came how many more people are there that need these faeces in afghanistan this is the case and this is tell you what's going on here. the last report that we were told the number is over 18000 applications that does not include their family members so anyone can do that simple math and see that we're nowhere near what we need nowhere near so just looking here at chris click pause on you cheap if you think of why there's so many people that need these as christ says it's not just translate us afghans and iraqis that many of the jobs to to the

special immigrant visa and let's just be very just very clear if something is helping the u.s. military in afghanistan or iraq matt what does that mean for them and their family spends as it is 100 percent right it's not just the interpreters they were engineers there were truck drivers there were cooks you know there were people who came in did our i'm sorry i mean you imagine every aspect of life that wasn't undertaken by a soldier it was likely an afghan iraq yet it was doing it on our behalf. so what does that mean for a lot of people unfortunately partnering with an american force can mean being excommunicated from the society around them and our m.p.'s have decided that their form of punishment is not just to go after the individuals who performed the job with us it's to also hunt down their family members it's very so the north korean and its in its evilness right it's an attempt to not just hurt the people who work

with us but also the innocent members of their families as a means of letting folks know that if people work with us again american friendship equals death sentence and i started off this whole conversation by saying i'm only alive today because an afghan man saved my life if he was here he would tell you that he did that because he believed the american people were good decent people who kept their promises we promised these people that if they work with us if they found themselves in danger because of that work we would take care of them and their family members this is not vietnam if we leave there are going to be a film records behind of what happened to the people that we've left behind and we're going to confront that for the rest of our lives and each time we ever ask americans to go abroad and find people to work with us and that becomes the prevailing narrative there can friendship people like me in future wars die now i'd like to show down another example to.

leicester did coronavirus i discovered a pattern of. cases that infant children were not being added to ongoing cases this ended up came down to. you could stay in afghanistan and your bases might expire because you finally got one or you could come to the united states and leave your infant child behind. i recognized this pattern i immediately took it up to my congressional representative and worked with the research team in kabul. i personally worked on 25 cases i know there were more that the visa team found today all children have been added to the cases in all families that were separated have been reunited. this this one here shows you how important it is to have a system that actually works because if not for me staying awake all night every

night most nights when may not have seen us sick a man that is little is it or huge cheer him on that we don't have to imagine the was because that all some people who have been left behind in iraq quite know how and we spoke to a translator in iraq and this is what that translates to told us we are changing the way he sounds an officer changing the way he looks take a look. i'm speaking on the whole feel like he said i was here if you're safe or just going on all of the procedures all the employees think paul but he's said that we have been facing a deluge to ensure players like our names list to play right yes he took us so we are expecting a new wave of a cessation so we have been waiting for years so only over cases to.

fight. over our request we add to this i will go on this special relation because of 4 iraqis. so there is a problem with people who were left behind in iraq to help the u.s. military because they asked question immigration visa program that's coast correct . but there's there's about 60 people that are still they managed to get applications in before closed down in 2014 and 7 years later they were not processed for visas and. i have no words there's no explanation for this there are 60 people in there and in 7 years time they have not processed their recess and i am sort of elbow waiting for them well you can't use them on the show you know what the words are to the afghans and iraqis watching this there is going to ever be an american to say this i'll say i'm sorry we let you down we're letting you down right now but these you know some of us haven't forgotten you and are

going to keep fighting until we get all of you on to safety. this is well that's i wish the bottom ministration would do the right thing they've got all the right people in place to actually enact the right policies they just need down have the courage and conviction to do the right thing i want to bring in one more child and again we're not going to tell you that this person has. worked with us in afghanistan and vast story is horrific have a look sense of those going on to those new to the war to know construction for the you're still in the midst of 4 minutes to turn to those and some still want to for all for some reason to install the one on up toward former merchant of the worse it is called the order to go is a salute to most of the world the movie explosion. the only to those in need to know what companies are told mom there's a risk i'm going to see you assume others are the models and so they were moved on

up toward the movie or police or the it's one sense to do 2 worlds to a new one for some new support war zones to know where insurgents will use to listen to those missing calls or 2 systems because listen to what's on the world community for the world or the deal the world or the ball can really. some of the comments that we're getting from your conversation came amat iraq interpreters have sacrificed everything to help the u.s. troops accomplish their mission we're talking about respect here they deserve respect they deserve better and also the biden administration can help highlight the successful transitions of the special immigrant visa recipients and their families because some people are in the united states and they are living a new life and they are in safety so you have outlined both of you very clearly it's a problem that we're having right now that you are having right now now what do you

do about it tim. you know president biden can call me anytime and i will show up. to whatever i have to to help them get this going we can't wait we can't wait we need a congressional representatives to hear this we need american citizens to call their congressional representatives and make them aware of this problem we need immediate action without delay. i still hear urgency i do know i see or it but i'm not there certainly seeing it on the ground. yeah you know it's not happening on the ground so what needs to happen is this we our report thankfully is getting some of the wonderful folks at the truman national security project and better answer for american ideals over it human rights 1st are going to help us.

try to get it to the right folks in government and maybe see if we can't get it in acted and get it into into play the reality is this we've done an evacuation like this now twice we did it in $975.00 we took 100000 vietnamese they happen to be on boats but we brought them to qualcomm and then they spent a couple of months in guatemala we processed their visas and moved them to the united states in 1996 we airlifted thousands of kurdish fighters out of northern iraq as saddam's army bear down on them because they had assisted us during the 1st gulf war we moved them to guam where they lived for another 6 months until we processed their visas and got him here we need to begin that airlift now in afghanistan and we need to reconstitute a program for our aki allies we've been betrayed him and we need to figure out a way to get them to safety american friendship should not mean a death sentence i'm going to say that over and over and over again because that's how i was raised we're supposed to be the people who keep their word and do the

right thing that's what i believe when i joined to serve my country and i'm going to fight to ensure that my country lives up to that ideal. i'm just looking right now i'm at a basket he said you heard from a comment he is in the year to chat right now be nice to him everybody when my special immigrant visa 1st opened for rap back in december 2008 my case took less than 7 months to process so it is possible to speed things up. yet it's not impossible this is not mission impossible this is mission possible i. came a man that one of the things that you've done is that you've taken upon yourself to push to ask for there to be change how many yourself have you been responsible for help change in the last couple of guests on the show for right or yes. back in 2013 for big changes to the. can you how are you hopeful

i try to be. and it's hard it's hard because i dealing with real people every day all day all hours of every day and. it's hard to be hopeful but i will not stop fighting i want these people to have safety i want them to hear the 1st of the promise that we gave them this is so important by the way to people need to realize is cheery has never once been paid for any of her work and for the last what 3 now 4 years she has taken on the responsibility and the behalf of the entire american people to essentially be the conduit between the church voters and the government let me show if you don't know where the edges are shi'a where we can find you this is matt's here on twitter you can follow his story you know what you're going to see

a lot of him once you know who yes this is his organization they see him on twitter this is the organization that can help to found thank you matt thank you came to us for paying part of today's episode of the strain see you next time take everybody. when freedom of the press is under threat demonstrators and journalists are dealing with internet outages police intimidation and charges of suggestion and the state line becomes the default media namely images that lead to death these days and just how did he create a nuisance makes it hard for people to know what's real and what's not step outside the mainstream shift the focus covering the way the news discovered the listening

posts on a. political debate show that's challenging the way you think i want to know where you're. sitting in the range of ideas that can be heard from international politics to the global pandemic and everything in between companies are the ones with all the power what do we do what's the solution. what are world leaders or governments missing. right now up front with me marc lamont hill on al-jazeera. a wondrous ecosystem but human activity is the escalating climate change and posing a next the stench of threat in the lead up to us to. special documentary discussions and report exploring the consequences of actions and inactions and showcasing ways in which some must see to turn the tide a season of programming exploring the time of crisis ahead

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a life from joe also coming up dozens are killed off for a train derails inside a tunnel.