Training the lawyers who defend America’s mission partners
A national program building legal education and access for Afghans and allied partners who served alongside the United States. We train attorneys, support them through the life of a case, and bring Know Your Rights education directly into communities.
Announced October 10, 2026 · Training coming soon
There is no shortage of American lawyers who want to help. There is a shortage who know how. Chief of Mission revocations, SIV derivative problems, parole-based adjustment, and files carrying three transliterated spellings of one name are not things a capable generalist picks up on the fly.That knowledge gap, not goodwill, is the binding constraint on representation.
Why this exists
The system built to keep the promise is gone.
Five years after the withdrawal, Afghans the United States vetted, cleared, and welcomed are defending themselves in immigration court. Temporary Protected Status for Afghans was allowed to lapse. Enduring Welcome was dismantled with no replacement. More than 250,000 Afghans remain stranded across more than 90 countries, and more than 15,000 family members are still separated.
At the same time, the capacity to represent them contracted. Immigration Legal Services for Afghan Arrivals, the federally funded program that connected Afghans to counsel, stopped accepting new service requests in September 2024. Enforcement sharpened. Large-firm pro bono appetite for immigration work narrowed after the 2025 executive orders targeting law firms.
The result is a population with urgent legal need and a shrinking bench of lawyers equipped to meet it. The Counsel Corps exists to rebuild that bench.
What representation is worth
A lawyer is the difference.
In immigration court, represented asylum applicants have prevailed at roughly 46 percent. Unrepresented applicants have prevailed at roughly 10 percent.
The outcome turns not on the strength of the claim, but on whether a competent lawyer was standing there. Building that competence is the whole point of this program.
The program
Four parts, one system.
The Counsel Corps trains attorneys, keeps them supported, connects them to the veterans who served alongside their clients, and brings legal education into the communities that need it.
Counsel Corps Academy
A national training covering the architecture of the Afghan relocation system, SIV and Chief of Mission mechanics, how to read an Afghan immigration file, removal defense, habeas corpus petitions, asylum, and effective representation. The anchor session, what to expect in the room, is taught by a former immigration judge and a former asylum officer. Sessions are coming soon; attorneys can request them now, and firms can request a full day for their pro bono program.
The Counsel Desk
What makes the training stick. A continuously updated state of play across the State Department, USCIS, EOIR, and ICE, a practice resource library, litigation alerts, and monthly office hours where attorneys bring live problems to people who have seen them before.
Battle Buddies and expert witnesses
Trained attorneys can request support for a case: American veterans, frontline civilians, and evacuation volunteers who can speak to the world the client came from, plus access to expert witnesses. Support is requested by the attorney, never assigned.
Know Your Rights
Community legal education delivered in Dari, Pashto, and English, covering encounters with immigration enforcement, what to do if a family member is detained, family preparedness, documents to carry, and how to find qualified counsel.
Training is free to participating attorneys and funded philanthropically. Case placement runs through partner legal organizations, not through AfghanEvac.
Who this is for
Three ways in.
You are an attorney
You do not need an existing immigration practice. You need to be a capable lawyer willing to learn a specific body of law. The Academy takes you from wanting to help to being able to help, from removal defense and habeas corpus petitions to Afghan-specific case types, and the Counsel Desk stays with you afterward.
You are part of an Afghan community
Know Your Rights sessions are free, delivered in Dari, Pashto, and English, and open to anyone. We will also show you how to find qualified legal help, including the official government and nonprofit directories.
You are a law firm, bar association, or legal organization
We train your lawyers, supply the subject-matter expertise, and stay involved. You provide the representation. For firm pro bono programs we will build a full-day training tailored to your attorneys. That makes meaningful pro bono participation possible for firms without a deep immigration practice.
Every path begins with the same short form. We will follow up directly.
Set expectations
What the Counsel Corps does not do.
- It does not provide legal representation. AfghanEvac is not a law firm and does not take cases.
- It does not give legal advice to individuals, on this site or anywhere else.
- It does not match individual people to individual attorneys, and it does not maintain a referral list.
- It does not guarantee that any person who attends a Know Your Rights session will obtain counsel.
- It does not replace the legal service organizations already doing this work. It exists to increase their capacity, not to compete with them.
Frequently asked questions
Questions we expect.
When does training start?
Soon. The first sessions are being scheduled now, delivered online. Attorneys can request the sessions they need today and will receive dates before they are announced publicly.
Is there a cost?
The training is free to participating attorneys. It is funded philanthropically.
If AfghanEvac does not take cases, how does someone find a lawyer?
Through the same channels we would point anyone to: the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s List of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers, the National Immigration Legal Services Directory, and the legal service organizations in your area. Our Know Your Rights page walks through it.
Why is a veteran-led organization running a legal program?
Because the constraint is knowledge, not lawyers, and because AfghanEvac holds knowledge no legal services organization has: how the relocation system was actually built, what the SIV and Chief of Mission processes really do, and where to find the American veterans who can speak to what a client did and what it cost them.
Get involved
Help us build the bench.
Training is coming soon. The attorneys, faculty, partners, and funders who make it possible are being recruited today.
Related
AfghanEvac is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice or legal representation. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship. The AfghanEvac Counsel Corps trains and supports attorneys and provides community legal education. It does not represent individuals, does not accept cases, and does not match individual people to individual lawyers. People seeking representation should contact a licensed attorney or an accredited representative directly. Information on this page is current as of the date shown and may change.