A Q&A with Mike Mitchell, Executive Director, No One Left Behind
This week, we commemorated Veterans Day, honoring veterans for their service and the sacrifices they have made for our country. Their work and commitment often continues beyond the time they serve in the military. No One Left Behind, a Welcome.US partner and Welcome Fund grantee, is a charitable and veteran service organization that evacuates, resettles, and advocates for the protection of Iraqi and Afghan allies who are eligible for Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Programs because of their service as former interpreters and U.S. government employees. Welcome.US recently spoke with Mike Mitchell, executive director of No One Left Behind, about the organization’s decade of service, and why their mission remains critical.
Ten years ago, No One Left Behind launched with a very focused mission. From its start to now a decade of service, how would you describe what the organization has accomplished?
No One Left Behind started because we, as a community and a country, made a commitment to a group of individuals that believed in a set of ideals that were shared with American ideals—and they fought for those ideals, not just for their own country, but for us. When I say for us, I mean for the military, for the U.S. government, officials, and leaders who were trying to make a difference.
That commitment meant that if they were in danger, if they protect our lives, we protect theirs by giving them a pathway to come to the United States.
We were founded by an interpreter who landed in the U.S. and who took several years to see that commitment come through. He believed that commitment and the money he raised for that commitment shouldn't just support himself, but should support others that were to follow him. We began by focusing on those interpreters and SIVs who were in the United States and how to support their journey to integrating as full fledged residents and Americans.
Then, in August of 2021, with the fall of Kabul in Afghanistan, we wanted to carry out that commitment for those who were left behind where we could make a difference. Over the course of those 10 years, we've served around 20,000 civilians and their families. Since 2021 alone, we've evacuated and sustained more than 10,834 SIVs. When I say sustained, I mean we've actually provided them housing while they were in transition in places like Pakistan.
In the United States, we have assisted nearly 8,000—7,697 to be exact. That included assistance for people who needed housing, but it also included things like car loans, because one of the barriers to escaping poverty and getting a start in America is transportation. Many of the surveys have told us that if they could get a car, they could get access to a better job and they could improve the mental health of their families because they could go to a park, they can do things with their family, they can go to a grocery store that actually sells food that's culturally relevant to their own background.
All of these things we've done over the past 10 years. That’s why we think we've made a difference, and why it's so important to keep connecting with Americans and sharing the mission that we started only a decade ago.
How have the needs changed over the years for the families you serve?
We've seen three needs that we have tried to fulfill. The first has been mentoring. That simply means we give them social capital. We connect them to Americans who are professionals who we can engage to guide somebody through a pathway. That's more than simply doing a resume, it's, “Hey, how do I really find a job in this field?” They get the opportunity to get a job within a professional track where they have benefits and upward mobility.
The second thing that we provide and think they need is education. With a partnership with LinkedIn, we provide LinkedIn codes that enable them to get access to certifications and ways to supplement their knowledge in whatever field they're interested in.
And then thirdly, as I mentioned earlier, we are offering loans that enable them to buy a used car, which helps them get on their feet. And with that, I'll just share an anecdote. One of our SIVs ended up in Houston on the second day of his arrival into the United States. He bought a used car, and it broke down within an hour of him purchasing it. He said, “You know, Mike, in Afghanistan, you just figured out a way to fix cars. But here I didn't have access to the tools to fix the car. And so I needed to figure out a way that I could get a car that would actually serve my ability to get to a job.”
Eventually, he got a loan and he was able to purchase a better car. Now, he's an attorney practicing business law in Houston. That all originated from his access to transportation. He started off working two different security jobs in a warehouse, and now he's an attorney. So those are three ways that we have added to and heard from the needs of these allies and where we've supported them in that journey.
In addition to evacuating and resettling Iraqi and Afghan families, an important piece of the organization’s work is advocating for them to the U.S. government. What are some of the issues you are focused on today?
Our genesis was to provide direct support to the individuals and families who were arriving. But over the past 10 years, we have gone from individual change to systemic change, understanding that these different programs—from evacuation to resettlement—create stories and awareness among lay Americans to advocate for the SIV program and ideally a permanent program.
We are advocating for things like the Fulfilling Promises to Afghan Allies Act, which includes some of the pieces of the Afghan Adjustment Act, which has been brought before Congress several times. It also supports a few things, such as expanding the ability of allies that don't fit the very strict definition of the law, but who supported the United States.
Then we have done other things besides supporting that law, such as advocating for additional visas. In the past year, we were successful in getting 12,000 additional visas through Congress. That was crucial, because we were actually running out of visas for allies to come to the United States. The pace was roughly 1,000 a month that were coming to the U.S., and we were down. We advocated before Capitol Hill to get that change.
The other thing that we do is [work with] the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense. Mostly, we work with the Department of State, and we try to improve the systems that they use. For example, we are communicating with Afghans, trying to make sure that all of their correct paperwork is in order. We certainly don't fill it out or anything like that, but we also communicate with the Department of State when cases are ready.
Overall, it's about communicating the promise, which in one sense is very abstract. It's about an American ideal and a commitment. But in another, it has to do with helping Americans realize that if that promise isn't kept to Afghans, can other nations and other foreign nationals trust America in any sort of future conflict? That is foundational to who we are. It's not because we hope that there's a future conflict, but in the event that there is, and we're advocating for American ideals and that's what we're standing up for, it's also standing up for the veterans who lived overseas, many of whom will speak about the thing known as “moral injury.” It’s this idea that I served alongside this interpreter, I made a promise to them, and they're still stuck in Afghanistan. That interpreter saved me three, four, or five times from the Taliban.
We aspire to the day when an Afghan or an Iraqi is flying an American flag on a neighborhood somewhere in Middle America, next to a lay American who learned about how they fought for the United States, the difference that they made, and the ideals that they supported.
No One Left Behind is committed to bringing Afghan allies to safety, and that need is still urgent as many are still stranded three years after the fall of Kabul. What are you doing to mobilize the veteran community to participate in the Welcome Corps?
This work has been really exciting and it is fairly new. We have started in the past 4 to 5 months getting veterans to sign up to sponsor. It's early in the process, but we recently took a trip to Seattle, for example, where we spoke to veterans and we also spoke to SIVs… How do we build cohorts of people that include veterans, lay Americans, and Afghan Americans that maybe came 10 years ago to work as communities of support to bring and welcome new allies in a place like Seattle, for example?
There are at least 2,000 Special Immigrant Visa holders who will arrive this year alone. Those folks need the support of communities that include veterans, Afghan Americans, and lay Americans. It's not just institutions like nonprofits that can help them, it's communities of support.
That can include a church, a synagogue, and other civic institutions that are inherent to American life that can bring them along that journey.
To date, we've made about a dozen to 20 referrals for sponsorship. Later this fall, we're working with a partner to plan an event that will be exclusively focused on veterans and sponsorship in the Washington, D.C., area.
This year, you launched Operation Save 7,000. Can you tell us more about that goal, and how Welcomers across the country can help you reach it?
As of the end of October, in the area of evacuation, we've served 5,522 people. In the space of resettlement, we have served over 12,000, so we're well on our way. In a sense, we have practically surpassed this idea of saving 7,000 and we may even get as high as 10,000. That includes evacuation, and it includes supporting people around resettlement here as well.
All of this includes stories that will in turn help influence and inform Americans. They will inform Congress, and they will inform the administration about this importance. That includes different stories of people saving American lives, but also Afghans who are working at American businesses and helping improve the competitiveness of an American company. It also includes being able to influence members of both parties who are veterans and really understand this issue, as well.
By sharing those numbers, it's the impact of those numbers, but it's also the exponential impact of the stories that those numbers bring and move Americans toward a greater goal of who we can be as a nation.That's something we're committed to.
Most nonprofits who offer direct service typically do it through case managers. We actually have Afghan Americans who we call ambassadors and who are around the United States. These ambassadors are folks who are outsiders who basically act as a bridge between America and the cultural awareness that Afghans bring to the United States. It's something that's unique about who we are and uplifts those stories further so that those folks can welcome Afghans and Iraqis into the United States.
In the coming months and years, we're going to continue supporting the administration to meet the goals. We're going to continue working with Congress, and we're going to continue making a difference for this. Ultimately, we would like to see a permanent SIV program that assures America's promise is honored to allies in former conflicts, and look to the future as well.
No One Left Behind is a place that brings America together. We have people who are to the far right and to the far left, and they're actually working together. Not one of them states that this is my political view, They state that this is my view as an American to honor our promise. That's one of the beauties about this organization that makes us unique and positive, and that's why we're so happy to partner with Welcome.US and make a difference.
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