The female members of Afghanistan's flag football team who secured political asylum in Mexico through the assistance of Greenberg Traurig last month have posed many questions to attorney Elba B. Gutiérrez since arriving.

Among their first questions to Gutiérrez, who studied law at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México: Could they also attend a university and pursue their dreams?

"All of these cultural shocks have been part of how and why asylum cases are so important," said Gutiérrez, a manager at Greenberg Traurig's Global Pro Bono program. "It's not only about getting people out of vulnerable situations, but also providing them with other opportunities."

After receiving word earlier this year from Aldea People's Justice Center — a pro bono legal and social services organization based in Pennsylvania — that the team had been invited to play an International Women's Flag Football Association tournament in Mexico, Greenberg Traurig attorneys worked with the Mexican government for weeks on ensuring that team members and their families would receive safe passage.

Some Greenberg Traurig attorneys worked with government officials on the diplomatic aspects of Mexico's offering asylum to the women, who became targets for persecution after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in September 2021, Gutiérrez said. Altogether, the legal team has assisted a group of 70, including team members and their relatives, in securing asylum.

Other lawyers with the firm who specialize in transactional matters worked with Programa Casa Refugiados — a nonprofit that works with refugees and operates a shelter in Mexico City — to ensure that the organization would be prepared to handle the influx of financial contributions expected to come their way after word spread internationally that the group would be hosting the team in Mexico.

"We were really lucky to have all of these networks and all of these people involved in the case, because it's something that could only have been achieved by a firm willing to invest so much resources," Gutiérrez said.

Mexico has increasingly become a "significant destination country" in the Western Hemisphere for those seeking international protection, ranking fifth in the region for the registration of new asylum seekers in 2021, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The country had 459,008 refugees, asylum seekers and others in related categories in 2021, with the figure expected to climb to nearly 950,000 in 2023, according to UNHCR.

Greenberg Traurig is now working with Mexican government officials on obtaining permanent residency for team members and their relatives, Gutiérrez said.

Aside from Gutiérrez, Greenberg Traurig attorneys working on the legal effort include José Raz Guzmán, Luis Cortes, Víctor Felipe Callarisa Rivera, Karla Copka and Daniela Reyes Rodríguez, according to the firm.

Meanwhile, members of the team have been working on matters such as learning Spanish, obtaining the health care that they need and practicing flag football on a field near where they are currently residing.

"The work hasn't stopped just because they arrived," Gutiérrez said. "We're really confident that the commitment of the government hasn't been only about getting them here but also about providing them with the documents so they can renew their lives."

--Editing by Robert Rudinger.

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