Afghan ally seeking asylum detained in Texas for illegally crossing border
Save Our Allies co-founder Chad Robichaux joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss the White House's handling of Abdul Wasi Safi's detention and the bipartisan support to free him.
The Pentagon sparked outrage after dodging questions on the detention of an Afghan ally after he illegally crossed the border to seek asylum from the Taliban.
Save Our Allies co-founder and "Saving Aziz" author Chad Robichaux joined "Fox & Friends First" Wednesday to discuss why he believes the Biden administration won't release him after he fought alongside U.S. forces for more than two decades.
"This is just a political thing that the White House does not want to… get behind him and support him," Robichaux told co-host Carley Shimkus. "If you ask me, it's because it's an embarrassment to the White House... It reminds people of what President Biden did back in August 2021."
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Abdul Wasi Safi, a former Afghan commando, worked with U.S. forces throughout the war, but is now sitting in the Eden Detention Facility in Texas jail facing deportation to Kabul.
"We've seen these press reports, but I don't have anything further," Brigadier Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday when a reporter asked about Safi's case. "But I think we've been very clear that we're supportive of efforts by the US government to ensure that those who fought alongside us are appropriately taken care of."
Photo of Abdul Wasi Safi, an US-trained special forces operative who escaped from Taliban control, fled to Texas and was arrested for crossing the border seeking asylum. (Sami-ullah Safi )
U.S. veterans helped Safi escape Kabul and eventually, he was able to travel to Pakistan. But his journey did not end there.
With the ultimate goal of coming to the United States, Safi traveled to Brazil with a visa, and ultimately decided to flee after he was tortured there.
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He embarked on a treacherous journey, through 10 Latin American countries, by foot and public transportation, to make it to the U.S. southern border. He was beaten and tortured repeatedly along the way.
When he reached the U.S. border, he assumed officials would know who he was, given his biometric data with the Department of Defense, but they arrested him instead after he crossed the Rio Grande.
He was reportedly told to contact his country's consulate, which is the Taliban, and the same group hunting him.
"We abandoned our allies in Afghanistan in August 2021, when we forfeited at Bagram Air Force Base and left our American civilians there," Robicahux said. "We left our interpreters there and created a scenario where a Taliban is in charge and actually systematically going after interpreters and soldiers like Abdul Wasi Safi, who served alongside of us for 20 years, and systematically beating them, torturing them, persecuting them and killing them."
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"It's no surprise that they're going to be seeking exile, traveling across the world to get to the United States and rightfully seeking asylum because we didn't do the right thing," he continued
The effort to secure Safi's release has become increasingly bipartisan in nature, with Reps. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, and Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, all banding together on the issue.
"If I had any hope about it, it's because of the fact that this is a bipartisan issue now, and I'm very proud to see," said Robichaux, who served eight tours of duty as a Marine in Afghanistan.
"So many things in our country that… should not be partisan issues, and this is one of them."
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