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World neWs Diasabra 20 November 2021
Thousands of Afghans seek temporary US entry, few approved

(AP) — More than 28,000 pace of approvals threatens ing and their house was de-
Afghans have applied for the safety of their loved ones, stroyed in a recent bombing
temporary admission into who face an uncertain future because her uncle had been
the U.S. for humanitar- under the hard-line Islamic a prominent local official be-
ian reasons since shortly government because of their fore the Taliban took over.
before the Taliban re- ties to the West.
captured Afghanistan The slow pace of approvals is
and sparked a chaotic “We’re worried for their frustrating because families
U.S. withdrawal, but only lives,” says Safi, a Massachu- have already paid hundreds
about 100 of them have setts resident whose fam- if not thousands of dollars
been approved, according ily is sponsoring 21 relatives in processing fees, says Chi-
to federal officials. seeking humanitarian parole. ara St. Pierre, an attorney at
“Sometimes, I think there the International Institute
U.S. Citizenship and Immi- will be a day when I wake up of New England in Lowell,
gration Services has struggled and receive a call saying that Massachusetts, a refugee re- and other advocates com- ing our immigration laws and
to keep up with the surge they’re no more.” settlement agency assisting plain. using the options they have?”
in applicants to a little-used Safi’s family. Victoria Palmer, a USCIS
program known as humani- The 38-year-old U.S. perma- “People are desperate to get spokesperson, said the agen-
tarian parole but promises it’s nent resident, who asked that Each parole application their families out,” said St. cy has trained 44 additional
ramping up staff to address her last name not be used for comes with a $575 filing Pierre, whose nonprofit has staff to help address the ap-
the growing backlog. fear of retribution against her charge, meaning USCIS, filed more than 50 parole ap- plication surge. As of mid-
relatives, is hoping to bring which is primarily fee-fund- plications for Afghan nation- October, the agency had only
Afghan families in the U.S. over her sister, her uncle and ed, is sitting on some $11.5 als. “Do we not owe a duty to six staffers detailed to the
and the immigrant groups their families. She says the million from Afghans in the the people left behind, espe- program.
supporting them say the slow families have been in hid- last few months alone, she cially when they are follow-

Wife of jailed ex-Interpol chief says friend risks same fate

bly torn between his former and other factors,” Zhao said.
colleague and the necessity of In the AP interview this
obedience to the Communist Meng Hongwei was elected week, Grace Meng she re-
Party. Interpol president in No- mains “extremely angry with
vember of 2016 but served Interpol” for its handling of
“At the moment, China is, for less than two years of what the affair. She is particularly
lack of a better phrase, eradi- was meant to be a 4-year rankled that it swiftly ac-
cating the ‘pernicious influ- term. He was promptly re- cepted his resignation with
ence’ of Mr. Meng Hong- placed by a then-vice presi- immediate effect when the
wei, carrying out a political dent, Kim Jong Yang of South circumstances and reasons
purge,” she said. “So if Mr. Korea, whose presidency is for his disappearance were
Hu Binchen sympathizes now ending. shrouded in mystery.
with us or helps us, or ex-
presses kindness toward us, After he disappeared, China She followed up the inter-
(AP) — The wife of the tight lid on dissent. that will mean that he will be announced in 2019 that- view with a letter to Inter-
former Interpol presi- violating party discipline. If Meng had been stripped of pol, seeking information. She
dent who disappeared in Grace Meng said Hu and he respects party discipline, his Communist Party mem- asked it to detail what steps it
Beijing in 2018 and was her husband -– who was a he’ll be going against basic bership. In January 2020, a has taken to ensure that her
imprisoned says she fears vice minister of public secu- human goodness. So this is a court announced he’d been husband is alive and to get ac-
that a similar fate awaits rity before he was purged and problem.” sentenced to 13 years and six cess to him, and to determine
China’s latest candidate jailed on corruption charges months in prison on charges whether he freely tendered
for a role with the inter- — were colleagues for many “One day, will Mr. Hu of accepting more than $2 his resignation and has had
national police body. years. She says they were so Binchen also be disappeared, million in bribes. access to legal counsel.
close that the Mengs’ twin like Mr. Meng?” she asked.
China confirmed this week boys knew Hu as “uncle.” The court said he confessed “How could the president
that it intends to seek a seat The Interpol Executive his guilt and expressed regret. of one of the most powerful
on Interpol’s 13-member “Mr. Hu Binchen is some- Committee, and its new His wife has long maintained international organizations
governing body, but didn’t one I know extremely well, president, will be elected at that the accusations were disappear in the middle of his
say who its candidate will because he used to be Mr. a General Assembly in Istan- trumped up and that her mandate and Interpol react
be. Overseas lawmakers and Meng’s subordinate. He bul, Turkey, next week. The husband was purged because by informing the world that
rights activists fearful that worked with Mr. Meng for, governing body supervises he’d been using his high- it had nothing more to say?”
China wants to use Interpol’s roughly, nearly 20 years. I Interpol’s day-to-day admin- profile position to push for she asked in the letter.
reach and influence to pursue also have known Mr. Hu for istrator, the secretary general, change.
critics in exile said the candi- about 10 years,” she said in and sets policy and direction.
date is a senior Chinese po- the AP interview. It was con-
lice official, Hu Binchen. ducted this week in Lyon, The Chinese Foreign Minis-
France, where Interpol is try, through spokesman Zhao
The wife of imprisoned for- based and where she has re- Lijian, said that China will be
mer Interpol President Meng mained since her husband’s putting forward a candidate
Hongwei, Grace Meng, told disappearance, granted asy- because it wants to “actively
The Associated Press in lum and living under French support the organization’s
an exclusive interview that police protection with their goals of fighting terrorism,
she and her husband know children. combating transnational
Hu well and that they were crime and making the world
friends. Hu works at China’s She said an Interpol role for safer.”
powerful Ministry of Public Hu could be fraught with
Security. It is part of the secu- peril – including, possibly, for “Interpol is a professional or-
rity apparatus that helps keep himself. She said Hu could ganization to combat trans-
China’s ruling Communist find himself in a very difficult national crime and should
Party in power, enforcing its position, with loyalties possi- not be disturbed by political