BY MAX KUTNER
SAVED BY THE BLADE: In August, Rezai Karim was attacked by a man with a knife. But the assault may make him eligible for a long-term visa and prevent him from being deported.
ON A CLOUDY evening in August, Rezai Karim and his girlfriend were swimming in the pool outside of their new home in Roanoke, Virginia, when it started to rain. They headed inside, still damp, and made their way upstairs to their third-floor apartment. As they opened their front door, a man appeared behind them and forced his way inside. “Allahu Akbar!” he shouted, then slashed them with a butcher’s knife. “The next thing I remember,” Karim says, “is that I’m on the floor.”