A WAY TO HONOR INTERPRETERS

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.

Recently, Marcia Kola of Deer Isle said she had passed to her from a member of the military a response from an Iraqi who had recently stopped working as an interpreter because of the growing violence he faced in Baghdad. The member of the military told the interpreter that people such as him were needed in his country, and his reported response was telling:

“Iraq doesn’t need people like me at all. In fact, people like me are getting killed in Iraq every fricking day, and what I need to do is get the hell out of this hell hole as soon as possible and get on with my life somewhere else, otherwise I will just be another number in the news. I am [a young man] for god’s sake, and I have never known what life is so far. … And what you need to do is pull out of Iraq and have its people just killing each other. Maybe after a while peace will replace violence after they realize what a mess they made. Nothing is worth the death of your soldiers here.”

The anger, sadness and despair that come through in this e-mail are heartbreaking, and the young man who felt these emotions so powerfully nevertheless stuck his neck out for the Americans who depended on him. One question, beyond his advice to Americans, is whether Congress can return the favor by taking a few moments to allow many more like him to find safety in the United States.

Sen. Susan Collins said she agrees that the cap ought to be raised, observing further that the lack of interpreters is also a danger to U.S. troops. Providing better incentives – better pay, more protection, improved chances for a visa after serving – might attract more interpreters.

Congress has changed visa rules for a variety of workers in recent years. For Maine, the concern has been over forestry workers and hockey players. Here’s a chance to do something much more important: Raise the cap for interpreters and save the lives of these courageous men and women.