Official Statement on the Shooting of the Members of the National Guards
In August 2021, tens of thousands Afghan allies came to the United States through Operation Allies Welcome (OAW). Many of these individuals were admitted with Special Immigrant Visas or SIVs, which are given to individuals who served with the American military for at least two years. SIV holders are rigorously vetted and are promised safety in exchange for their service to America. Journalists, human rights activists, and other individuals immediately at risk were also admitted through OAW. All individuals underwent background checks conducted by intelligence, law enforcement, and counterterrorism professionals.
This week’s tragic shooting in Washington DC renewed harmful generalizations unfairly directed toward Afghan communities. Broad narratives that condemn entire communities do not honor the sacrifices of the Afghan allies who stood with the U.S. against the Taliban at great risk to their own lives and who now call this country home.
In addition, the administration’s use of this tragedy to reexamine green cards issued to immigrants from 19 different countries (including Afghanistan) and to freeze all asylum claims only creates more uncertainty, fear, and danger for millions of individuals and families. It undermines both US law and our nation’s longstanding humanitarian commitments. Immigration data indicates that approximately 3.3 million lawful permanent residents (green card holders) originated from the nations targeted for reevaluation. This decision impacts nearly 1.5 million people who fled persecution and sought refuge through asylum, which is a legal remedy and a moral obligation rooted in domestic and international law.
As Their Story Is Our Story mourns for the members of the National Guards and their families impacted by the shooting last week, we ask that this crisis not be used to put millions more innocent people at risk of persecution, violence, and retribution.
Partner Profile: No One Left Behind
Their Story is Our Story and No One Left Behind (NOLB) joined forces in 2025 to launch the StoryShield program.
We spoke with Matthew Marcellus, Director of Communications with NOLB, and asked what the partnership with TSOS has meant for his organization and their Afghan clients.
Context with Layma
Social media presents us with an endless scroll of headlines and ‘hot takes’. What’s often missing is context. What is the history that led up to an event? Whose interests are served by a certain policy? What effects is that policy having on people’s lives? Layma Murtaza produces and hosts the video series “Context with Layma”, featured on Their Story is Our Story’s social media channels. We spoke to her about the context of her own life, as an Afghan-American and a professional in humanitarian aid, that led her to use storytelling to illuminate the personal and political context behind the headlines.
De-skilling and the Mental Health Effects Among Refugee Physicians
Discussions of physician workforce policy tend to organize themselves around numbers. Shortage projections, residency slot allocations, and licensing timelines dominate the literature, and for understandable reasons. More than 83 million people in the United States currently live in areas without sufficient access to a primary care physician, and projections suggest the country could face a shortage of as many as 120,000 physicians by 2030.