EDITORIAL: An Unpaid Debt to Afghan Interpreters

Last fall, Congress made a change to the rules of a resettlement program for Afghan interpreters who risked their lives by working for the American government. To be eligible for an American visa, applicants would have to demonstrate that they had worked for the United States for at least two years, rather than one. There was no reason to think the new requirement would affect the roughly 10,300 people who already had pending applications.

But the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, in a baffling move, decided to apply the new rule retroactively. Immigration lawyers fear that it could disqualify thousands of applicants, including some who have been waiting for a visa for years.

This is unfair, and reflects the callous disregard  bureaucrats involved in the program have shown toward Afghan interpreters since Congress created the program in 2009. As it is, the application process is drawn out. Afghan interpreters must submit a petition at the United States Embassy in Kabul, providing evidence of their employment, a letter of recommendation from an American supervisor and a description of the threats they have faced as a result of their work. Those who get embassy approval must then submit a formal visa application to the Department of Homeland Security.

Retroactive implementation of the new rule could affect roughly 3,300 people, according to the International Refugee Assistance Project at the Urban Justice Center, which represents Afghan interpreters seeking to move to the United States. That figure reflects the number of applicants who, as of November, were awaiting approval from the embassy.

Those who worked for the American military for less than two years appear to be shut out under the new rules. The change also affects interpreters who qualify but are unable to produce records to verify their employment. Former Afghan interpreters often cannot track down supervisors who departed the war zone long ago. In some cases, the government contractors that they worked for disbanded as the American military force in Afghanistan contracted. - Read More at the  NYT -  THE EDITORIAL BOARD

An Unpaid Debt to Afghan Interpreters - More