The Afghans Who Got Out
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 26 October 2021
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sharifa Abbasi knows exactly what it’s like to board a plane to a new country. She immigrated from Afghanistan to the U.S. with her family in 1993. Now, she’s helping other Afghans navigate the complicated red tape of American immigration law after the Taliban takeover. For these immigrants, coming to America wasn’t easy -- being able to stay here might prove even harder.
Guest: Sharifa Abbasi, immigration lawyer at The HMA Law Firm.
If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.
If you've just signed up for Slate Plus because of What Next, fill out this form and you may get some What Next swag!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey everyone, I got a special announcement for you today. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Slate. So for a limited time only, we are offering our annual Slate Plus membership at $25 off. As a member, you will get no ads on any of our podcasts. That includes this podcast. You also get unlimited reading on slate.com and member |
| 0:24.1 | exclusive episodes and segments from shows like Slow Burn and Amicus and the political gab fest. |
| 0:30.1 | For the past quarter century, Slate podcasts have been covering all the major news events, elections, |
| 0:36.4 | social issues, and historic court decisions. |
| 0:39.8 | Our culture shows have debated if things are sexist, named the best summer songs, |
| 0:44.1 | and explain the latest TikTok trends. |
| 0:46.8 | If we've become part of your listening routine, we're asking that you support our work |
| 0:51.8 | by joining Slate Plus. |
| 0:54.1 | Sign up for Slateplus at slate.com |
| 0:56.0 | slash what next plus to keep us going for another 25 years. Again, we are giving you $25 off an |
| 1:02.8 | annual membership through October 31st. So sign up now at slate.com slash what next plus. |
| 1:14.2 | Three days a week, Sharifa Abasi drives deep onto a military base in Quantico, Virginia. |
| 1:21.3 | Quantico is known as the crossroads of the Marine Corps, but it's not the Marines, Sharif is there to see. |
| 1:28.8 | It's the refugees, hundreds of it's not the Marines. Sharif is there to see. It's their refugees. |
| 1:35.0 | Hundreds of them. All from Afghanistan. All of them trying to figure out where they're going to go from here. How overwhelming is it for you? Because my understanding is you are Afghan as well. |
| 1:43.9 | Overwhelming in terms of my work there or just this whole situation being overwhelming. |
| 1:48.1 | I think in terms of the whole situation. |
| 1:50.6 | I think if you ask any Afghan, the past couple months has just been, you know, nonstop nightmare. |
| 1:57.1 | It's just never ending, especially in August, you know, when the evacuations were underway. |
| 2:02.1 | Everyone was going through extreme mental distress because they had family members that were going to the airport, that were getting assaulted, that were getting shot at, that were getting turned away. |
| 2:13.9 | I think every single Afghan felt as if they were also there at the airport with those members of the family, anxiously waiting to see if they made it through, if they made it to the |
| 2:21.4 | plane, if they're okay. Shreifa is an immigration attorney. When she saw pictures of planes |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.