No refuge: Afghans describe challenges in building new life in New Mexico

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico – Abdul Amiry thinks of his home country when he sees the Organ Mountains in southern New Mexico.

“These are like Afghanistan,” he said on a recent drive through Las Cruces, gesturing toward the range’s jagged peaks.

Any similarities pretty much stop there. This new city, state and country — Amiry’s home for the last several months — are deeply unfamiliar and, so far, quite unwelcoming, he said. 

Amiry and about 200 other Afghans have tried to find a new life in Las Cruces in recent months, what they hoped would be the final leg of a harrowing journey from a country in collapse. 

But in New Mexico’s second-biggest city, Amiry and 15 other refugees who spoke to Source New Mexico say they’ve encountered unnecessary obstacles in meeting basic needs, plus failures by every level of government and the nonprofit organizations paid to help them get settled.

In broken English or through a Pashto translator, Afghans described having to make impossible choices with little resources. Some have decided to leave Las Cruces, sometimes to meet family, but often just to try their luck in places they hear are better. 

That means Nebraska, Iowa, Maryland, Texas, elsewhere. 

Their interviews provide a rare glimpse into the difficulties Afghans face in their new country, one that invaded theirs more than 20 years ago and then hastily left.

Leaders of the two agencies resettling Afghans in Las Cruces said they are doing their best to furnish English education, transportation, medical care, benefits and jobs to the newcomers. It’s the first time either agency has resettled refugees like this. They’re doing so in a city with no pre-existing Afghan community, one that is also hosting refugees from the Middle East for the first time in its history.

Amiry

Amiry, 31, said he served in the Afghan National Directorate of Defense, basically the CIA of Afghanistan.

He declined to use his full name or have his portrait taken, citing enemies he left behind.

The father of three desperately wants to bring his family here. He escaped Afghanistan on a United States military aircraft while the Taliban encroached, thinking he would be flown to another base within the country. But instead he was flown to Qatar, and has been unable to see his family since. His young daughter still expects to see him. 

“When the airplanes going (above) my house like this, my little daughter is saying, ‘Father, come back, come back. Please don’t go,’” he said. “Every day, she’s doing that. So it’s hard. It’s so painful. With this, you cannot stay alive.”

He’s working on getting a path to citizenship, he said, and bringing his mother, wife and children, including a new son born two weeks ago. 

299 evacuees from Afghanistan destined for NM resettlement

The agency tasked with helping him, El Calvario United Methodist Church, provides an immigration attorney, but the lawyer is available just once every two weeks to help more than 100 Afghans, Amiry said.

So, in the meantime, he is trying to make money to send home. Last weekend, he began working 12-hour overnight shifts at a local cheese factory. His English skills — gained, he said, by watching American sci-fi and fantasy series — helped greatly in helping him get the job. But he still faces daunting financial challenges.

Upon arrival, Amiry, like other New Mexico Afghans, received about $1,200 each from the federal government for basic services — things like housing, food and clothing. But the money is held by El Calvario, and it’s all Amiry has for now. 

He will have to dip into that fund to pay for housing, which he’s seeking for himself and two friends, both also refugees. 

El Calvario found him two places to choose from. On a recent Friday, he visited one of them, listed for $400 a month. But it was a one-bedroom apartment, not a three-bedroom apartment, which is what he hoped for. 

The apartment was made vacant when the three Afghans, also men and also clients of El Calvario, left for Nebraska. The trio was tired, among other things, of packing themselves into the too-small apartment, Amiry said. 

The other apartment, a three-bedroom, costs $1,200 a month. It’s too expensive, Amiry said. Until last Friday, he was staying for free at a Las Cruces hotel. On his last night, he spoke to a reporter about his options. 

“If I pay $1,200 for house, how much money I can send for my family to support them? How much money I can give a lawyer for my green card or asylum case?” he said. “I have a lot of things to do.”

In addition to housing, the trio is also trying to find a car to take to work at the cheese factory. He’s hoping to find one for less than $5,000, a rarity amid inflation and supply chain snags. 

Without a clear solution, Amiry decided to wait to talk to his case worker the following day. It was around 9 p.m., and dinner was ready. His friends and potential…