Screengrab via 12 News
By Colleen Sikora | 12 News
TUCSON, Ariz. — An interpreter who worked alongside the Marines in Afghanistan for years is now officially an asylee in the United States.
Zabi, who was an Afghan interpreter who fled the Middle East as a refugee, has been waiting to be granted asylum for more than two years.
Zabi worked with the U.S. Marines from 2010 to 2014 as an interpreter. In August 2021, his work with the Marines made him a target of the Taliban.
Help came for Zabi from Darius Amiri, immigration chair at Rose Law Group. The two connected through Amiri’s high school friend Corey Mazza, a U.S. Marine, years ago.
“I had to get back from Afghanistan. I had to get out,” Zabi said.
Amiri previously worked to help Zabi with a special visa that never got approved.
“When we did start pulling our troops out, it became imperative that, ‘Hey, now it’s not just this visa that he needs. Now, it’s like life or death.’,” Amiri said.
