Joshua Goldstein’s job is to help people obtain visas, including many Afghans. But the immigration lawyer feels helpless now as desperate people beg for his assistance in escaping their homeland after Taliban terrorists took over Afghanistan on Sunday.

The pleas for help started flooding Goldstein’s inbox at 4 a.m. Pacific time on Sunday and have not let up since.

“I went to the airport. Afghan troops wouldn’t let us in. U.S. soldiers came storming out of the airport saying people were shot dead and they won’t let them get on a plane,” one man seeking help texted Goldstein. “People of all nationalities, European citizens also—people are trampling on others and so afraid. The Taliban are ruthless, brutal animals.”

The Daily Beast interviewed Goldstein about how the fall of Kabul has left countless people trapped in a now dangerous city:

After warnings of panicked tramplings and looming Taliban, the same man had a painstakingly formal question for his attorney about a message he’d received from what used to be the American embassy in Kabul. 

“When the embassy says ‘awaiting immigrant visas’ does that pertain to an applicant who has done his or her interview or does that include people who have not been scheduled for an interview?”

Only one answer seemed appropriate to Goldstein: “Stop asking questions about immigration law niceties and get out of Afghanistan.”

Just days ago, the United States had a process in place to help Afghans who have aided American troops over the past two decades, but now people have to pass through Taliban checkpoints to get to Hamid Karzai International Airport where evacuations are taking place.

Sheets filled with details of Afghan residents wishing to leave the country are pictured inside a Humvee in front of the British and Canadian embassy in Kabul on August 19, 2021, after Taliban’s military takeover of Afghanistan. (Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images)

Goldstein shared a story in the Daily Beast report about a family with Special Immigration Visa (SIV) status that was granted in 2015. 

“The family goes to the embassy in Kabul, and they approve the husband and the four kids but the wife they put in administrative processing, which basically means it’s stuck,” Goldstein said.

He said her family left thinking it would be just weeks to join her family in the United States but it took five years and a lawsuit to make that happen.

The Daily Beast reported that President Joe Biden’s announcement in April about the U.S. troop drawdown did not make it easier for Afghans to leave the country. And now, his disastrous exit plan has left Americans and Afghan allies abandoned.

“Among those trapped are Afghan Americans who earned U.S. citizenship and traveled back to the country as the U.S. withdrawal began in an attempt to try and bring back family members only to find themselves unable to leave,” the Daily Beast reported.

Afghan people queue up to board a U.S. military aircraft to leave Afghanistan, at the military airport in Kabul on August 19, 2021, after the Taliban’s military takeover of Afghanistan. (Photo by Shakib RAHMANI / AFP) (Photo by SHAKIB RAHMANI/AFP via Getty Images)

One of Goldstein’s clients is an Afghan American who earned U.S. citizenship through the SIV program and flew to Kabul to get his fiancé out of Afghanistan.

“He’s in a panic,” Goldstein said. “He said he fears for her safety and saw 15 people shot dead in the streets of Kabul,” said Goldstein, who said he hasn’t heard from the man since Sunday.

The Daily Beast said it was unable to independently verify the man’s claim of the deaths of numerous people.

Another man was waiting for his dad to get on a flight to the U.S.

“Dad couldn’t get a flight,” the man wrote to Goldstein. “His flight was cancelled. The airport is a mess. We’re trying everything we can to get him out.”

An Afghan child sleeps on the cargo floor of a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III, kept warm by the uniform of the C-17 loadmaster, during an evacuation flight from Kabul, Afghanistan, August 15, 2021. (U.S. Air Force Courtesy Photo)

Goldstein said he has almost 30 clients who are still in Afghanistan.

“I’ve been reaching out to all my Afghan clients saying what can I do for you?” Goldstein told the Daily Beast. “It’s so traumatizing,” he said. “I don’t know what to say or do. I wish there was something more I could do to help.”

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