It took nearly a year and a half for Sayed Haroon Amini to make his way from Afghanistan to America.

He was in Kabul back in Aug. 2021 at the airport in Kabul. Videos from that time went viral as Afghans chased and clung to an American plane leaving Kabul.

What You Need To Know

  • People from more than 150 nationalities are new entrants to New York City's immigration court for notices to appear, according to data from Syracuse University

  • From Oct. 2022 to May 2023, 106 of those individuals are from Afghanistan

  • The people who spoke to NY1 said they left to flee the Taliban, making winding journeys to America in order to seek asylum

After nearly two decades, the final U.S. troops were pulling out of Afghanistan, and videos showed the desperate attempts by Afghans to leave, too, as the Taliban was set to take back over the country.

Crowds poured into the airport in Kabul, trying to get in. One day, a bomb went off, killing 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops.

Amini was not there that day, but he tried to get into the airport earlier.

“The situation was so terrible,” Amini said.

But he said he knew he needed to leave Afghanistan. That’s because he said he was active on social media, openly critical of the Taliban. He said he was on a list of people the Taliban searched for as they took control of the country.

“They went to my father. They beat my father to find my location,” Amini said.

Amini, a project manager for a construction company, says he went into hiding, as he plotted what turned into a 17-month journey to the United States. 

It started with his escape to Iran, where he got a student visa in civil engineering.

But that would only last two years, so he obtained a humanitarian visa to Brazil.

“The economic conditions there were terrible,” Amini said.

Amini made his way by plane, bus and by foot through South America and Central America.

In Tijuana, he crossed the southern border, entering San Diego, and then flying to New York. 

The journey was over 16,000 miles and cost him $7,000.

“In the United States, it might not be so much money, but in Afghanistan, in other countries, it’s a lot of money,” Amini said.

Another Afghan, who asked to stay anonymous, said it cost $50,000 to get his entire family here.

He said it’s all the money he had saved.

He owned a construction company, as well as a restaurant in Afghanistan.

He said his family was at risk, in part because his wife was a teacher at an all-girls school the Taliban shut down. 

“It’s closed. All things closed,” he said.

He said other Afghans are making the trip to the U.S., sharing a video from an airport in Brazil where tents lined a wall. He said all of them were from Afghanistan, having received humanitarian visas.

But his time in New York City was not very long. He said it was confusing to figure out how to apply for asylum and find a lawyer. Without an asylum application filed, he said he couldn’t find any work.

Days after he spoke with NY1, he left for Canada.

But Amini, said he wants to stick it out in New York City. His court appearance is set for October, and he’s already studying for exams in civil engineering, hoping to work here soon.

“I am very eager to do everything fast and take my legal status here,” Amini said. “And do so much great thing here.”