LOS ANGELES — Waving flags in downtown Los Angeles and shouting until their voices cracked, protesters — many of them Afghan immigrants — wanted to make sure their message was heard.

"Get them out," they chanted, followed by: "Let them in."

More than 100 people gathered downtown in front of the Hall of Justice before marching to Pershing Square and back again. One of their key messages was that they want the U.S. to open the borders and allow more refugees in from Afghanistan.

Leading the effort was Hameeda Uloomi, a Rancho Palos Verdes high school student. Born in Kandahar in 2002, a year after the first troops arrived, Uloomi never knew an Afghanistan where the U.S. wasn’t present. She attended an American school staffed by American teachers until terrorist threats shut the facility down.

“I couldn’t go back to my school,” she said. “I lost all my teachers I lost all my friends.”

Uloomi was out of school for eight months when her family left the country and came to the U.S. It was a difficult eight months and left her with a deep appreciation for education.  She even started a group that sends school supplies to students in Afghanistan as well as other conflict zones.

“They used to use sticks in mud to write,” Uloomi explained of Afghan youth. “The first time they see a pencil, it’s like seeing the world. It’s like seeing their future ahead of them.”

That future is now uncertain. With the Taliban in charge, Uloomi's concern is that the progress made over her lifetime for students and women will now be completely erased.

“We have worked so hard for them for 20 years now,” she said. “It was blood, sweat and tears. These advances they made are now being taken away from them, and it’s crazy to think that all their hard work is being thrown away in the trash.”

Laila Amini didn’t get to witness any of the changes firsthand. Her family left Afghanistan more than 40 years ago during the Soviet War, but she still feels a deep connection to her home country and its people.

“I still get homesick every spring,” she said. “So where you come from, you never forget.”

Amini has been glued to the news all week, watching scenes like the ones from the airport in despair.

“How people are suffering there, I couldn’t stand it,” she said.

Amini tried to continue her thought but couldn’t speak — her voice choked with tears.

"It’s devastating," she said after gathering herself for a moment. "It’s heartbreaking. It’s horrifying. It’s like a nightmare that you can’t wake up."

Amini wants to see not only the U.S., but also the world, embrace those fleeing from the Taliban. This is not an Afghan issue, she explained. It’s a global issue.

"The whole world needs to help," she said. "We are human. It affects all of us."

President Joe Biden has pledged to evacuate all Afghan people who aided Americans in the war effort, which Uloomi believes is fair. But she is also adamant that the U.S. commitment shouldn’t end there. It should extend to any Afghan seeking safety and access to education.

"If these people are asking for help, we should open our doors," she said. "Our home is their home as well.  America was built on immigrants and we should continue to do that."

Uloomi says she plans to continue raising her voice for those in real danger of losing theirs.