As they covered the war in Afghanistan, news reporters from the L.A. Times and NPR would ask interpreter Hashmat Baktash to arrange interviews with local people in hiding from the Taliban.

Afghans near the U.S.’s Bagram Airfield spoke reluctantly and often asked to remain anonymous, he said.

Now, Baktash is in a similar situation – this time in America, where new Afghan immigrants are suddenly hiding their names and faces.

Baktash, now a U.S. citizen and business owner, spoke on behalf of the many Syracuse community members who were afraid to talk to a news reporter after a shooting in Washington tarnished the community’s name and upended the path to citizenship for thousands of Afghans.

More than 400 Afghan families have moved to Syracuse in the last five years. Hundreds came on speci

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