There are generations of the Bakhtani family in Albany, all of whom came from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover in August 2021. The family fled their home country for fear of persecution, due to their work in co-ed education — a practice forbidden by the Taliban.
But last month, four members of the Bakhtani family -- three brothers and their father -- were detained by ICE, two of whom were detained outside of Masjid As-Salam, a mosque on Central Avenue in Albany, after the early morning prayer.
The 57-year-old father and one of the brothers have been released after spending almost a month in detention. The father, who did not want to share his full name for fear of compromising his asylum status, told WAMC this weekend he was released Dec. 29 from the ICE Buffalo Service Processing Center. His son was released the next day. He said his two other adult sons are still detained in Buffalo. The father spoke through a translator, Afghan American Community Center President Yousaf Sherzad, about his experience in detention.
“We were very sad and concerned," he said. "We were living a happy life over here, and we started a happy life, but all of a sudden, we got arrested. We got very sad and scared, and over there, as I was sick, and my son was sick too, so we were really struggling, and we were facing very hard time over there due to our illness and sickness and how the facility over there was.”
The Capital Region Sanctuary Coalition, which organizes mutual aid for immigrants impacted by ICE detentions in the Capital Region, on Saturday held a rally in Townsend Park in Albany in support of the family.
Sherzad read a statement on behalf of the mother of the three brothers detained.
“My sons are not criminals," he read. "They are hardworking men who labor more than 40 hours a week in a warehouse to provide for their families, obey the law and contribute to their new community.”
She called for solidarity from the community as she seeks the immediate release of her sons.
“As a mother, my heart is breaking. I have entered war, exile, hunger and loss, but this pain is beyond my strength. I respectfully and urgently call for justice. I plead for the immediate release of all my sons. They are in detention of the ICE. I ask you to see us, not as numbers or cases, but as human beings who have already paid an unimaginable price in the pursuit of freedom and safety.”
The father says he is still very concerned about his sons, whose young children are scared for their fathers too.
“The whole family is very sad. One of my sons, who is in detention center, he has a two months daughter, and his other daughter, who is few years old, they are shocked and stressed, and their wives and their kids, so all of they're very sad, and we don't know what to do," Sherzad translated. "They're crying almost every day and night.”
Jahaira Roldan, an organizer with the Capital Region Sanctuary Coalition, says that the coalition has been working with the Bakhtanis since early December, and that support from the coalition and the community is crucial. Roldan said the family remains strong, despite the uncertainty.
“They're so united as a front and they could, they could teach us a lot about what community truly is and caring for one another actually looks like," she said. "And so, yeah, we we've heard from them that they're just super grateful to their attorney. They're grateful to us for helping out where we can.”
Although the family is relieved the father and one brother are home, the father says they are desperately awaiting any updates from the two brothers still in detention.
“We didn't hear anything, but we are hoping and requesting everyone who can help to have them release and let them come home to their kids.”
