relate ♪ this is night line. >> tonight -- >> free britney now! >> free britney. >> i've been out here for a year. a lot of people have been out here for two years. some have been out here 13 years. >> a judge ruling for the pop star, taking a page from her songbook, calling her father's role in the conservatorship toxic. ♪ don't you know that you're toxic ♪ >> a major step toward the singer taking control. plus america strong. the proud couple paying it forward to recently arrived afghan refugees. >> being able to give him that hope is really powerful for me. >> sharing their part of the american dream. with mucinex all-in-one you've got unbeatable relief from your worst cold and flu symptoms.

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♪ good evening, everyone. thanks for joining us. i'm phil lipof. britney spears' lead attorney calls it a decade-long nightmare, and today it ended. the judge ordering removal of the singer's father from control of her finances and her personal affairs. her fans couldn't be happier.

here's abc's kaylee hartung. >> this is a really big deal. >> reporter: this is the moment britney spears and her fans have been waiting for. >> i'm so pleased and proud to say jamie spears is no longer conservat conservator. >> reporter: after more than 13 years, a los angeles judge suspending britney's father, jamie spears, as head of her conservatorship, saying the toxic environment described by the pop star required it. >> this is the goal, britney's very happy, therefore i'm very happy. >> reporter: the judge did not dissolve the conservatorship, appointing a temporary conservator recommended by the singer and her attorney. >> this is what she wanted. >> reporter: in court jamie's attorney said there's not a shred of evidence to support his suspension, but today's ruling brings britney one step closer to the freedom she's been fighting for. supporters like kevin say that's a win. >> it's great to know we were

able to effect positive change, for britney and everyone else who's trapped in this system. >> reporter: he joined the "free britney" army, a group of superfans who have built a movement around freeing britney from the conservatorship. >> i'm a big fan of britney spears, have been since the beginning of her career. i had no idea what a conservatorship was, i just wanted to support someone who meant a lot to me while i was growing up. >> every day, every hearing, you see the britney fans there outside the courtroom with their signs cheering her on. the movement itself has really solidified how much they think the importance is to get the word out. >> reporter: they've been surrounding the courthouse today. blocking entire streets and pathways. >> we came up from san diego just for this today. >> i've been out here for a year, a lot of people have been out here for two years, some have been out here 13 years. >> i come from hawaii. i always fly from hawaii for the rallies. >> hey, hey, ho, ho, the

conservatorship has got to go! >> this is an all-out win for britney spears' team. they asked that jamie spears be out, and that this new person be in. the judge granted that. >> reporter: jamie spears was given legal control over his daughter's personal, professional, and financial affairs in 2008 after she suffered a mental breakdown. ♪ i think i did it again ♪ >> reporter: since then britney has released four albums and performed nearly 250 shows in her las vegas residency. behind the scenes britney claims the conservatorship was ruining her life. over the summer the star breaking her silence calling the conservatorship abusive, singling out her father, saying he should be put in jail. spears sharing personal details saying she wants to get married and have another baby, but claims she wasn't allowed to remove her iud. she also described being denied things as basic as coffee, her driver's license, and her hair vitamins by the conservatorship.

this afternoon's court hearing coming just days after bombshell allegations made in the new documentary "the new york times" presents "controlling britney spears." >> i worked with the security team for britney for almost nine years. >> reporter: in the film, a former employee of the firm hired by britney's father, black box security, says they monitored her communications by mirroring her iphone. >> you would be able to see all messages, all facetime calls, notes, browser history, photographs. >> reporter: even putting an audio recording device in her bedroom. >> when i took a step back and i looked at everything, it really reminded me of somebody that was in prison. and security was put in a position to be the prison guards, essentially. >> reporter: liz day is the cocreator of "controlling britney spears." >> it wasn't until alex came

forward and agreed to go on the record that we really understood the level of control that the conservatorship had over britney's life. >> reporter: an attorney for the security firm telling abc news, black box security has a strict policy against discussing matters concerning their clients or their operations, and black box has always conducted themselves within professional, ethical, and legal bounds. an attorney for jamie spears maintains his actions were done with britney's best interests at heart and well within the parameters of the authority conferred upon and by the court. his actions were done with the knowledge and consent of britney, her court pointed attorney, and/or the court. >> if the surveillance occurred as has been alleged, i would think that jamie spears would have needed the approval of the court. otherwise, there could be real legal problems. >> reporter: rosengart telling the judge what the "times" reports jamie did is unfathomable. the follow-up to the documentary "framing britney spears" paints a dark picture of the conservatorship that oversaw

britney's life for over a decade. >> i think the conservatorship presented this narrative that all was well, that the conservatorship had saved her life, and it wasn't until very recently that people really started to question whether or not that was the case. and then finally, when britney herself broke her silence publicly in june, i think that really shattered any illusion. ♪ it's getting late ♪ >> reporter: spears stopped performing 2 1/2 years ago, saying she will no longer go on stage while her father is in control of her life and career. her instagram feed giving fans glimpses of her life. it's where she announced her engagement to sam asgarri. britney was 16 when she catapulted to stardom with "baby one more time." >> "baby one more time" kind of was her transition into the innocent young woman, into a little bit more sexy young woman that she's becoming.

>> reporter: releasing one mega-hit after another. "oops i did it again" in 2000. "toxic" in 2003. by 2007, life in the spotlight seeming to take a toll. the young mother of two appearing to publicly struggle amidst a divorce, custody battle, and continued media scrutiny. under the relentless flash of cameras, she took a pair of clippers to her own hair at a los angeles salon. >> it got to a point where, you know, she would also have public breakdowns in front of the camera. >> reporter: what seemed to be a public unraveling coming to a head in a 2007 altercation with paparazzi in l.a. broken down in the documentary "framing britney spears," moments after this, the film says she was denied access to visit her kids. >> please stop. stop. please, please. >> britney grabbed the umbrella, started coming after me, starts beating the passenger side of my truck. >> reporter: that following year, after two

hospitalizations, jamie assumed control over his daughter's estate. >> people who work in this field will tell you that they've never seen a conservatorship like this one. that lasted so long, with someone who has a job, who can go on tv as a judge, who seems to be able to articulate exactly what she wants. >> reporter: now after 13 years, jamie spears is no longer in charge and britney's lawyer is asking the court to terminate the conservatorship entirely later this fall. just hours after the hearing, this posting on britney's instagram saying she's on cloud nine. >> hey, hey, ho, ho -- >> reporter: in los angeles, her supporters in the "free britney" movement want today's ruling to make an impact far beyond britney spears. >> let's hope that this case helps give a voice to all of those people out there who don't have this fan base. >> reporter: and hope that now britney can finally truly be free.

>> our thanks to kaylee. up next, the couple offering hope and a home to afghan refugees who fled to the united states. tomorrow on "nightline," ozoo ozuna. we're behind the scenes with the global superstar. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients i don't just play someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®.

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among those trying to make a difference, a couple in seattle. "america strong." here's abc's zohreen shah. >> reporter: in this quiet home in a suburb of seattle, an outpouring of generosity from this doctor and her stay-at-home husband. as tens of thousands of afghan refugees arrived in the u.s., jesse robins and twi do saw a need and decided to fill it, welcoming this family of afghan refugees into their vacant rental home. >> it is our responsibility to help the families who are coming here. i still believe that that is the kind of country we are. that is the kind of people we are. >> reporter: the u.s. is expected to resettle as many as 95,000 afghans over the next year, all fleeing instability and some, perhaps, death, spurred by the taliban's takeover of their home country. >> when we watched the fall of

kabul on tv, it was just instantly connecting that this is something we want to do because we care about diversity, we care about when these refugees come into our community that they feel welcomed. it was just -- it happens to be that we had the resource at the right time to do it. >> there are good people around here. >> reporter: americans across the country like jesse and thuy are stepping up, provided resources to support these refugees' transitions to a new country, a new culture, a new community. you guys are forgoing your own personal income to make this happen? >> we're living comfortably enough to make this work for a few months on end. >> it's a great place of privilege to be able to say that. this is not money we need to feed our kids. with it or without it, it doesn't make a difference between us being rich or poor. >> reporter: this is the second time in just two months an afghan family has moved into jesse and thuy's rental. in august they took in mohib, a

former translator for the u.s. and the u.n., his wife, and six children, after being matched up by a local organization. >> life is very important, you know. so i didn't feel good over there, you know. so that's why i left it, my country. now i feel good over here. be safe, feel good. >> there's a well-established afghanistan community here in the northwest. they're going to find new friends and make their own community rather quickly. but for the first few days that they're here, so long as they feel that they're well supported, we've done our job. >> reporter: now abdul, his wife, and four young children are staying in the three-bedroom property, a halfway house before they find a more permanent place. what does your wife and family think of this new place?

>> reporter: abdul worked as a mechanic for the u.s. military for eight years in kabul. >> reporter: so he and his family fled. making it to the u.s. on a special immigrant visa just two days after the taliban overran the capital. >> in this city there's many different types of houses. >> reporter: within a few weeks choosing to relocate in seattle to be close to a family friend.

>> reporter: what makes this place a great place for refugees? >> my family were refugees when we came here. so we felt really welcomed. >> reporter: for thuy, the plight of these afghan refugees is a reminder of her own struggle. when people look at your communities, the vietnamese community, they may not see similarities. but there is a common thread in this moment. >> it's war and destruction. that is the threat. just war in general causes so much of the refugee crisis. >> reporter: the images of the horror and mayhem of afghanistan toppling under the taliban has echoed throughout the vietnamese-american community, recalling harrowing images from the fall of saigon in 1975. >> the majority of people have had just really horrifying stories of how they got out of vietnam, how they lost family members along the way. and the vietnamese flag being

pulled down, people rushing to the airport trying to leave with the last military plane. people handing their babies over into the plane so at least the babies would have a better life somewhere else. >> reporter: over the next two decades, more than 1 million south asians would seek safe haven in america. thuy was 9 years old when her family came to the u.s. in the '80s after years of trying to escape communist rule. >> when i look at abdul's kids, i see myself in them 30 years ago. so the obvious biggest challenge was language. we didn't speak english. i could count to 10. i knew dog, pig, cat. i knew the abcs. and that was it. i remember a lot of uncertainty, a lot of unconnectivity. i'm not sure i would describe it as fear, just a lot of hesitancy. >> reporter: thuy hopes to lessen the obstacles she encountered for this new wave of refugees. we asked abdul, where does he

see himself decades from now? he says, i want to give back, i want to do what they're doing. >> i think that's beautiful. we don't give thinking that we'll get it back, we give thinking that it will be -- the cycle will move on, right? i think that not -- not just providing basic housing, but being able to give him that hope is really powerful for me. >> reporter: jesse and thuy don't know how long abdul's family will stay in their rental unit but already know they'll welcome another family. if you had one message that you wanted to tell the afghan community, coming from someone who's an american here, what's that message? >> welcome. i hope you enjoy your time here. there's a lot of good people here who are really happy that you're here. i sincerely hope that every single person you meet here is going to make you feel welcome and supported.

>> our thanks to zohreen. up next, how one man got an alligator out of his front yard. liz, you nerd, cough if you're in here! shh! i took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. what about rob's dry cough? works on that too, and lasts 12 hours. 12 hours?! who studies that long?

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♪ finally tonight, alligators are fairly common in florida, so what do you do when you find one? this man seemed to know. first, grabbing a garbage bin. a method that may have seemed unlikely to succeed, but it did. maybe it was all in the wrists. that may have been the hardest bit. but he was still left with an angry gator, now in a garbage bin. time to return to it where it came from. the reluctant reptile initially not wanting to budge so he gave it a bit of encouragement. the man retrieving the bin just in case he needs it again. in florida, he just might need it. you can watch all of our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow night. good night, america.