By Caitlin Foster
In Afghanistan and Iraq, U.S. troops received crucial support from locals who signed up to serve as translators and interpreters. In return, they were promised refuge in the U.S. Today, over 60,000 people—translators, interpreters and their endangered family members—wait in a bureaucratic backlog while the U.S. Department of State processes their visas.
Henrike Dessaules is the communications director for the International Refugee Assistance Project, which advocates and provides legal services for refugees hoping to resettle in the United States. While the organization provides services for refugees of various nations and backgrounds, their advocacy for resettlement plays an important role in helping translators and interpreters find safety in the U.S.
There are three main visa programs which are designed to help relocate men from Iraq and Afghanistan and their families who face ongoing, serious threats due to their service helping the U.S. and coalition troops. I’ll let Dessaules tell you more:
What is the current status of the Special Immigrant Visa Program for Iraq and Afghanistan?
These are two different programs, and both are in different places. The SIV [Special Immigration Visa] for Iraq was the original program but it has not been accepting applications since 2014. There are 160 people still stuck in the process since then; the program is more or less finished as no new applicants can apply.
For Afghanistan, the program has been renewed this fiscal year but we don’t know yet how the spots will be allocated. We have to find ways to add visas—there is still very much a need for them.
[Here, she introduces other visa programs applicable to Iraqis with an even larger backlog].
The Iraqi Direct Access Program also covers translators or others who worked for the U.S. government or government contractors. This program has a backlog of over 60,000 people. The number of people getting resettled through the program is fewer than ever.
There is a smaller program called the Special Immigrant Visa Program 1059, but that is capped at 50 people per year.
Can you tell me about the processing delays associated with the SIV programs?
The Afghan program has seen a lot of delays – last year, interviews stopped altogether because they ran out of visas. This process takes an average of 712 days from start to finish; it was expected to take about nine months. This timeline isn’t working for the people trying to get to safety.
How do you conduct outreach to refugees in need of help?
We have developed a reputation among certain refugee communities—they all know each other so word spreads. We get a lot of people through referrals. We also have branches in Jordan and Lebanon, so there we have people on the ground. These communities are very close-knit, a lot of what we do is through word of mouth. People can also reach out through our hotline.
Do you do any work with veterans who want to help their translators reach safety in the U.S.?
Oh, yes. We work with Human Rights First [another non-profit with human rights related goals] and their Veterans for American Ideals. This is a community of veterans that understands that our refugee policy is a part of larger foreign policy. They advocate a lot on the Hill. We all agree that helping them resettle does not just put us on the right side of history—it makes good sense for national security and foreign policy.
One of the stipulations for these visas is that the recipient face a serious, ongoing threat. How do applicants prove this is happening to them?
Proving a threat is sometimes not easy. We always ask if they have received threatening letters, which are very common. The Taliban will write letters and put them in their mailboxes. They may have bullet holes in their homes or receive threatening calls. Proof can be hard—we’ve had clients whose families have been kidnapped. Some have provided us with death certificates showing their family members have been murdered.
Are their families protected by these visas?
The visas apply to spouses and minor children.
What about the rest of their families?
We hear from our Iraqi clients especially that while they’re safe, their families are not. Anyone who is affiliated with them—a sister, brother for example—can be under threat just for their affiliation. They can’t come with them under the visa. They can apply for their families to join them once they are here, but with a backlog of 60,000 people it’s very unlikely. That’s just for Iraq—for Afghanistan, I don’t think there is a program like this.
Is there any way to adequately quantify or judge the consequences these men face while waiting for a visa?
This is very hard to quantify—we have trouble with these numbers. For the most part, though, they’re in hiding so they’re not at their family’s home. They have to go to a major city and leave their families behind. This information doesn’t always trickle down so it’s hard to judge. A lot of times clients do update us when they receive new threats, to them or their families. We do sometimes get notices of someone in the process getting killed.
What is your response to people who are afraid that these refugees pose a threat to our safety?
This is simply wrong. The refugee program is one of the hardest ways of getting to the U.S. In general, the refugee program is the most vetted in terms of people who come in—and the people who worked with our troops are even more vetted. In order to work with our troops, they have to go through security screenings. Then, when they apply for their visas, they have to go through even more checks. So the idea that the people who worked with our troops pose a security risk is kind of ridiculous.