The Fate of US Interpreters
To safeguard US allies, Congress passed the Kennedy/Lugar-Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act in 2008. The program provided Special Immigrant Visas to US collaborators and their families to evade danger in their home country and start anew in the United States. This applied to interpreters and others who have worked with the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Due to their service to the United States, the lives of these interpreters and contractual workers and their families were plunged into extreme danger when US troops withdrew from the country. However, from the program’s inception, granting SIVs did not run as well as had been expected. The Special Immigrant Visa program for Iraqis who had worked for the United States during the war in Iraq officially expired at the end of 2013 after a three month extension from its original expiration date in September. Now with the military operations winding down in Afghanistan, we wonder if the same issues are awaiting those individuals and their families. For the details read http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/23/afghan-iraq-interpreters-siv_n_3481555.html
One former USAID officer who experienced the tragedy US collaborators face was Kirk Johnson. Johnson began work as an USAID officer in Iraq in January 2005. He returned to the US in 2006, and in that same year, he received notice that an Iraqi friend and colleague he had worked with received a death threat. A militant group had left a dog’s severed head on his front steps with a note that said “Your head will be next.” Johnson’s colleague had to flee Iraq with his family because he was denied aid from the United States. This event prompted Johnson to create awareness concerning the plight of the US-affiliated Iraqis. He began The List Project, an organization that represents the Iraqis in danger for their work with the US by providing them with legal support in their immigration process. Read more about The List Project here… http://theli stproject.org/