An Afghan interpreter who survived a suicide attack that left him with facial paralysis and a deaf ear after more than ten surgeries told the Immigration Answer Show that his green card interview went well, the officer said he would be approved, and then a second interview appeared, got scheduled for December, and was canceled days out. Nine months later it had never been rescheduled. Founding attorney Jim Hacking framed the injustice as a question.
mic What the Attorney Says
“Would you agree with me that immigrants who risk their lives to help members of the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan … should go to the front of the line? Because that’s what I think.”
The people who worked alongside U.S. forces are supposed to be prioritized. That is the premise of the Special Immigrant Visa program under the Afghan Allies Protection Act. Hacking’s experience is that the system does the reverse.
mic What the Attorney Says
“I sued USCIS for all those people because not only do they not put you at the front of the line, they don’t even treat you like a regular person. They actually treat you as somebody who needs extra scrutiny … they sort of flip it on its head.”
The reasoning the agency uses, that someone with connections in the countryside warrants suspicion rather than trust, is backwards for a person the U.S. government already vetted and relied on. A descheduled second interview with no reschedule is not a status. It is a case sitting in a drawer.
The remedy is the same one that has worked for translators before: a federal lawsuit. A mandamus action under 28 U.S.C. § 1361, paired with the Administrative Procedure Act’s duty to conclude a matter within a reasonable time at 5 U.S.C. § 555(b) and its bar on unreasonable delay at 5 U.S.C. § 706(1), forces the agency to act. Hacking described suing at the end of one translator’s interview and having the officer apologize to the client and naturalize him days later. For this caller, roughly 19 to 20 months in, the same suit should force the missing second interview and a decision in about six to eight weeks. It is the same approach behind not waiting on a case USCIS has simply parked and the firm’s broader pre-litigation and mandamus practice.
Sources
- 28 U.S.C. § 1361 — Action to Compel an Officer of the United States to Perform His Duty (Cornell LII) open_in_new
- 5 U.S.C. § 555 — Ancillary Matters (Cornell LII) open_in_new
- 5 U.S.C. § 706 — Scope of Review (Cornell LII) open_in_new
- USCIS — Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans Who Were Employed by/on Behalf of the U.S. Government open_in_new
- Immigration Answer Show — episode 1099 (August 2026) open_in_new