Afghanistan

The Trump administration plans to re-examine the cases of all refugees and humanitarian evacuees admitted during the Biden administration, after the shooting of two National Guard members. Advocates in Kansas City say they trust the past vetting, and criticized the “planned destruction” of the country’s refugee programs.

Mohammad Ali Dadfar will reunite with his wife and children after his release from a Springfield, Missouri, jail that is contracting with the Department of Homeland Security.

A Kansas City-based immigration attorney has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Mohammad Ali Dadfar’s warrantless arrest and detention. Hundreds of immigrant detainees have been ordered released because the government failed to honor a 2022 consent decree regarding warrantless arrests.

Della Lamb Community Services has helped more than 3,000 refugees acclimate to new homes in the Kansas City area since 2014, many facing unique health challenges. A local crew of medical students now helps some refugees navigate the American health care system.

The lives of Afghan civilians who worked alongside Americans were at risk once U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan. From more than 7,000 miles away, Army veteran and former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander devised a rescue mission, "Operation Bella," to get allies away from the Taliban.

Facing genocide in Afghanistan, a family of Hazara refugees settled in Kansas City. But they remain separated from their son, who helped bring them here under the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrant’s Family Reunification program.

Among the struggles involved in re-establishing life in a new country, some Afghan parents fear their children will lose the cultural and historical connections that come with speaking Dari.

Informal soccer matches every Saturday on the open fields at Shawnee Mission North High School let Afghan refugees visit with people from their home country and speak their native languages. It's also a chance to improve their English.

After the Taliban seized control of Kabul, Kansas City welcomed hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan in 2021. Two years later, many refugees are in search of stable housing as the question of their immigration status remains in the air.

Kansas City is home to a growing community of refugees from Afghanistan, including an ethnic minority known as the Hazara who are finding a place here and spreading awareness of what they call a genocide back home.

Qasim Rahimi came to Kansas City in June 2021 after the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban took over. Rahimi is a member of the Hazara, an ethnic minority group that has faced decades of violent persecution at the hands of the Taliban, and now he’s working to warn the world about the genocide being carried out against his people.

Kansas City-area members of Afghanistan's Hazara ethnic minority — some new arrivals since the U.S. evacuation in 2021 — are creating a community and celebrating traditions here while trying to call attention to the risk of genocide back in Afghanistan.