Afghan refugee couple accuse US marine of abducting their baby
An Afghan couple who arrived in the United States as refugees are suing a marine and his wife for allegedly abducting their baby.
The newly-wed couple were saved from Kabul and taken to Washington by the marine, Joshua Mast, during the chaotic withdrawal of US troops last year.
The baby girl had been rescued two years earlier from the rubble of a US Special Forces raid that killed her parents and five siblings, and had gone to live with the couple – her cousin and his wife – after spending months in a US military hospital.
When they arrived in the US in late August 2021, Mr Mast pulled them out of the international arrivals line and led them to an inspecting officer, according to a lawsuit they filed last month.
They were surprised when Mast presented an Afghan passport for the child, the couple said, and they noticed her last name had been changed to Mast.
Unknown to the family, according to documents filed with the court, the marine and his wife, Stephanie, had adopted the child in a Virginia court, 7,000 miles away.
The couple say that Mr Mast, after brandishing custody papers, took the baby from the couple five days after they arrived in the US. They haven’t seen the youngster since.
“After they took her, our tears never stop,” the Afghan woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Associated Press.
“Right now, we are just dead bodies. Our hearts are broken. We have no plans for a future without her. Food has no taste, and sleep gives us no rest.”
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‘We acted admirably’
In a federal lawsuit filed in September, the Afghan family accused the Masts of false imprisonment, conspiracy, fraud and assault.
Mr Mast has claimed he and his wife are the legal parents of the young girl, who is now three and a half years old, and they “acted admirably” to save her.
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“Joshua and Stephanie Mast have done nothing but ensure she receives the medical care she requires, at great personal expense and sacrifice, and provide her a loving home,” wrote the Masts’ lawyers.
The Masts have also called the Afghan family’s claims “outrageous, unmerited attacks” on their integrity, and have argued in the court filings that they have worked “to protect the child from physical, mental or emotional harm”.
They have asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
The ordeal has drawn in several US government departments, which have argued the alleged incident could significantly harm military and foreign relations.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
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