Once again I find myself wishing to discuss the need for extensive immigration reform. This time we will focus on translators who have sacrificed the safety of their families and themselves to be of service to US Forces and how these heroes need to have immediate access to the United States.
"The Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) is a U.S. program established for Afghan or Iraqi translators who have worked with the U.S. military. Translators play a crucial role for the U.S. military, and the Iraqi Refugee Assistance project estimates that around 50,000 Iraqi and Afghan nationals have served as translators over the past decade. However, working with the U.S. often comes with a heavy cost: being branded a “traitor” by the Taliban and other groups, putting the translators and their family members at constant risk. The SIV program was intended to provide protection against this by allowing the translators and their families to migrate to the U.S. after their service."
http://thediplomat.com/2015/01/left-behind-translators-the-afghans-who-served-with-the-u-s-military/
You can imagine that kind of horrors that could potentially face the translators who assisted British and US Forces during the war in Iraq and our current situation in Afghanistan. I do not understand how we could process 130,000 Vietnamese rather easily in 1975 but be unable to help the translators who have assisted and stood up against terrorist organizations. The United States government was able to airlift our Vietnamese family to bases in the Philippines, Wake Island, and Guam and eventually transferred them to refugee centers in California, Arkansas, Florida, and Pennsylvania for up to six months to receive education and cultural training in order to facilitate their assimilation into their new society. Although initially not welcomed by Americans (only 36 percent in a national poll favored Vietnamese immigration), President Gerald Ford signed the Indochina Migration and Refugee Act of 1975, which granted the refugees special status to enter the country and established a domestic resettlement program. The bill was amended in 1977 under the sponsorship of Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) to permit refugees to adjust to a parolee status and later become permanent residents. In order to prevent “ghettoism” by concentrating resettled Vietnamese in one geographic area, refugees were initially dispersed across the country. This deliberate scattering of the first influx of refugees did not last, as most eventually moved to California and Texas. We processed these immigrants in as little as 4 months. If we can do that for people who had ties to American Soldiers, why can we not help out the translators who served alongside our brother and sisters in arms. They already proven themselves as Americans, they've served with the 1% of our military members--something MOST Americans do not do. We did it RIGHT back in 1975 and it is time to change the way we process SIV's NOW.
Another issue that I have is that our government makes it mandatory for the member applying for SIV to pay for all fees (it's a 14 step program) and to buy the plane tickets for travel (for all family members and themselves) to the United States. I seriously doubt that a majority of translators can even afford that for themselves or their families, also we have to factor in the fact that the lives of the translator and their family members are in constant danger from terrorist because of their association with American Soldiers. They need to be granted immediate asylum while we process their paperwork. They have approved 3 visas in 2011, 63 in 2012, and finally rose to only 3, 341 by the end of the fiscal year of 2013. The site provided also states that approximately 6,000 are still stranded in Afghanistan while waiting for their paperwork to be processed.
http://thediplomat.com/2015/01/left-behind-translators-the-afghans-who-served-with-the-u-s-military/
This isn't acceptable for me. As a nation we should be thanking these individuals and their families who have put their lives in danger to ensure our boys get home. They are/were paramount to our success, prevented the death of service members and all they get is the bureaucratic red tape? Please--they need a easy path to citizenship and more importantly a safe haven in which to gain the right to be an American. Leaving these heroes to fight for their lives is no way to say thank you and it definitely isn't a way to encourage help from translators in the future!
Please meet FNU. Courtesy of John Oliver tonight!
https://youtu.be/QplQL5eAxlY
Please comment, question, or correct in the comments below!
"The Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) is a U.S. program established for Afghan or Iraqi translators who have worked with the U.S. military. Translators play a crucial role for the U.S. military, and the Iraqi Refugee Assistance project estimates that around 50,000 Iraqi and Afghan nationals have served as translators over the past decade. However, working with the U.S. often comes with a heavy cost: being branded a “traitor” by the Taliban and other groups, putting the translators and their family members at constant risk. The SIV program was intended to provide protection against this by allowing the translators and their families to migrate to the U.S. after their service."
http://thediplomat.com/2015/01/left-behind-translators-the-afghans-who-served-with-the-u-s-military/
You can imagine that kind of horrors that could potentially face the translators who assisted British and US Forces during the war in Iraq and our current situation in Afghanistan. I do not understand how we could process 130,000 Vietnamese rather easily in 1975 but be unable to help the translators who have assisted and stood up against terrorist organizations. The United States government was able to airlift our Vietnamese family to bases in the Philippines, Wake Island, and Guam and eventually transferred them to refugee centers in California, Arkansas, Florida, and Pennsylvania for up to six months to receive education and cultural training in order to facilitate their assimilation into their new society. Although initially not welcomed by Americans (only 36 percent in a national poll favored Vietnamese immigration), President Gerald Ford signed the Indochina Migration and Refugee Act of 1975, which granted the refugees special status to enter the country and established a domestic resettlement program. The bill was amended in 1977 under the sponsorship of Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) to permit refugees to adjust to a parolee status and later become permanent residents. In order to prevent “ghettoism” by concentrating resettled Vietnamese in one geographic area, refugees were initially dispersed across the country. This deliberate scattering of the first influx of refugees did not last, as most eventually moved to California and Texas. We processed these immigrants in as little as 4 months. If we can do that for people who had ties to American Soldiers, why can we not help out the translators who served alongside our brother and sisters in arms. They already proven themselves as Americans, they've served with the 1% of our military members--something MOST Americans do not do. We did it RIGHT back in 1975 and it is time to change the way we process SIV's NOW.
Another issue that I have is that our government makes it mandatory for the member applying for SIV to pay for all fees (it's a 14 step program) and to buy the plane tickets for travel (for all family members and themselves) to the United States. I seriously doubt that a majority of translators can even afford that for themselves or their families, also we have to factor in the fact that the lives of the translator and their family members are in constant danger from terrorist because of their association with American Soldiers. They need to be granted immediate asylum while we process their paperwork. They have approved 3 visas in 2011, 63 in 2012, and finally rose to only 3, 341 by the end of the fiscal year of 2013. The site provided also states that approximately 6,000 are still stranded in Afghanistan while waiting for their paperwork to be processed.
http://thediplomat.com/2015/01/left-behind-translators-the-afghans-who-served-with-the-u-s-military/
This isn't acceptable for me. As a nation we should be thanking these individuals and their families who have put their lives in danger to ensure our boys get home. They are/were paramount to our success, prevented the death of service members and all they get is the bureaucratic red tape? Please--they need a easy path to citizenship and more importantly a safe haven in which to gain the right to be an American. Leaving these heroes to fight for their lives is no way to say thank you and it definitely isn't a way to encourage help from translators in the future!
Please meet FNU. Courtesy of John Oliver tonight!
https://youtu.be/QplQL5eAxlY
Please comment, question, or correct in the comments below!
