Paths to Safety and Stability: Afghan Asylum and Pro Bono Advocacy

Family’s Flight to Freedom

/// Eric Schilling, Ryan Young

Attorneys Eric Schilling and Ryan Young worked with Z.S., who had served as a soldier and pilot in the Afghan National Army and Afghan Air Force for nearly 17 years. They were assisted by legal administrative assistants Andy Franet and Selina Walters. Because of his service, Z.S. received direct threats of detainment, torture and death by the Taliban. He and his family fled to the United States after his child was injured in a targeted shooting on the family vehicle following the fall of Kabul.

This volunteer team represented Z.S. through the asylum application filing, as well as an Employment Authorization and Temporary Protected Status application for Z.S., his wife and eight children. Coordinating applications for a family this large is a significant undertaking, and the team did an amazing job shepherding it through the process. Our Service Center staff jumped in to help, coordinating meeting rooms and organizing the submission for filing.

Because of the commitment of these volunteers, Z.S., his wife and now nine children (one born here in Minnesota) can live safely in the U.S., and Z.S. can see his daughters receive an education that would be denied to them if they remained in Afghanistan.