Summary
Every day in Afghanistan and Iraq, local interpreters risk their lives to help U.S. troops communicate with the public and understand the culture. They take immense risks with minimum security, and many have paid with their lives. Each year the United States offers 50 visas to these interpreters, a wholly inadequate number that Congress could double or triple without exceeding the level of gratitude Americans should feel for these allies.
The demand to lift the visa cap and confer special immigrant status to interpreters is certainly there. The federal government begins its fiscal year Oct. 1; the annual interpreter cap was hit by early November last year. That means that thousands of Afghanis and Iraqis who may be known or seen helping U.S. forces are at special risk. The interpreters often do not use their own names for fear of reprisal to themselves or their families.See the full content of this document
Extract
A Way to Honor Interpreters
Recently, Marcia Kola of Deer Isle said she had passed to her from a member of the military a res...
See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
