NOTE: Any Charlotte folks interested in being part of the welcoming party for this family, the new arrival time at CLT airport is TODAY, MAY 2nd at 12:06. To all: I am a law student at the Charlotte School of Law and served with A Co. 1/252 for six years before going to the Army Reserves. I now also run the local pro-bono chapter of the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project. We have just successfully resettled an Iraqi family who was facing death threats, kidnapping, and persecution for their support and assistance to the US military during Operation Iraqi Freedom. I deployed with the NC National Guard and became friends with the family, and a group of law students have worked for 3 years to get them resettled under the Special Immigrant Visa program. The father of the family worked for and was a great asset to A Co. 1/252 located at JSS Doura. The family will be arriving in Charlotte for permanent resettlement on the evening of May 1st and I would love to have a small welcoming party greet them. We have also invited current and former members of the NC National Guard, the Charlotte Middle East Council, local news organizations, and other local Arab contacts. We are still waiting on the exact arrival time but it looks like flights will arrive from JFK around 6:40p and 7:15p. I would be happy to share more information once I receive it and I appreciate your time. Below are a few links about his story covered this past fall as part of the larger Special Immigration Visa legislation extension. Change.org (Mr. Z is the arriving father Ziad): change.org/petitions/congress-extend-lifesaving-legislation-for-interpreters-who-helped-us-troops-in-iraq NY Times (Ziad is the another Iraqi man at the end of the article) nytimes/2013/09/20/world/middleeast/door-to-us-may-be-closing-for-iraqis-who-helped-the-american-military.html?hp&_r=2& Army Times (Ziad is again Mr. Z) armytimes/article/20130912/NEWS05/309120028/For-interpreters-U-S-forces-time-may-running-out-get-visas Sincerely, Brent Finnell Charlotte School of Law J.D. Candidate, 2014 252-916-3151 brentfinnell
Posted on: Fri, 02 May 2014 09:34:34 +0000
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