美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump Administration Has Drastically Dropped Visas For Afghan And Iraqi Interpreters

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are sounding the alarm about a broken promise - not to them but to thousands of translators and others from those countries who worked with American troops. They were told that in exchange for risking their lives and exposing their families to danger, they would get visas to come live in the U.S. NPR's Quil Lawrence reports.

QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE¹: Programs like the Special Immigrant Visa are really about the bond between American troops...

PETER FARLEY: I couldn't imagine in a million years that I would go over there and come back with one of my best friends being an Iraqi national.

LAWRENCE: ...And the Afghans or Iraqis who helped them survive.

KHALID AL BAIDHANI: I want him to get them a good communication between the U.S. military and Iraqi civilians² over there.

LAWRENCE: That's Peter Farley, a former Army sergeant³ from Massachusetts, and Khalid Al Baidhani, who was an interpreter in Baghdad. Working with Americans made Baidhani a target for insurgent⁴ groups and not just in theory. In 2006, he was waiting for a ride home outside a U.S. base in Baghdad.

AL BAIDHANI: A car stop right away, you know, take out the pistol and start shooting me. Then I wasn't feel anything after that. I get shot.

LAWRENCE: Bullets hit Baidhani in the cheek and the arm. He came to in the back of a pickup⁵ truck headed to the hospital. Baidhani recovered and went back to work with U.S. troops. So did his uncle and his brother, who worked with former Sergeant Peter Farley.

FARLEY: This family has sacrificed more than most American families.

LAWRENCE: Farley lobbied the U.S. government to get both Khalid al Baidhani and his brother Wisam to the U.S. in 2011. It shouldn't have been hard since this special visa program was designed for people just like them - Iraqis who risked their lives to help the U.S. The program came too late for Khalid's uncle. Gunmen killed him in 2008 on his way home from an American base. But Baidhani's father and younger siblings⁶ also qualified⁷ for visas, says Farley.

FARLEY: And we worry about the safety of this family every day. It's hard to keep hope with the way that things have gone.

LAWRENCE: The way things have gone is the family is still in Baghdad. After years of waiting and red tape, Baidhani's father, stepmom and three younger siblings were granted U.S. visas in 2016. They sold their family home and all their other assets and packed their bags. The day before their flight, they got a call that the visas had been put on hold pending⁸ yet another security check.

MOHAMMAD: (Foreign language spoken).

LAWRENCE: That's Khalid's father, Mohammad.

MOHAMMAD: (Through interpreter) I was shocked that someone shoot me by a bullet. And I was collapsed⁹ after that.

LAWRENCE: He's now crowded into a rundown rented house with his oldest daughter and her husband...

MOHAMMAD: (Foreign language spoken).

LAWRENCE: ...Two bedrooms for the seven of them now trapped in a tough neighborhood in Baghdad. Peter Farley lobbied again and incredibly, he says, the security hold got reversed in 2017. But since then, the Trump¹⁰ administration appears to have put the brakes on visas for those who help the troops. In Iraq, there are more than 100,000 people stuck in the program's backlog¹¹. Last year, less than 200 were cleared.

ADAM BATES: This administration is hostile to refugees.

LAWRENCE: Adam Bates is with the International Refugee Assistance Project.

BATES: It would be impossible to say that these substantial drops are not part of some policy. These are people who put themselves at risk on behalf of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and are facing threats because of that service to the U.S.

LAWRENCE: The number of Afghans getting visas is also slowing, down about 60% since last year. A U.S. State Department official told NPR that it is working closely with U.S. government partners to accelerate the visa processing while maintaining national security as a highest priority. None of that makes sense to Baidhani and his family who are still under death threats and have no news about when they may travel. Khalid's younger brother Ahmed is now 23. He quit his job when he thought he was leaving in 2016 and hasn't had steady work since then.

AHMED: We give a lot of sacrifices. Actually, my brother shot twice, one in the head, one in the arm. I just want to ask why us security check after security check after security checks? I just want to ask them to see us as a family who actually want to serve the country there,

LAWRENCE: Peter Farley, like many other vets¹² who promised their interpreters' safety in the U.S., he's angry.

FARLEY: If I was in their shoes and I learned about these stories where the U.S. wasn't offering protection to people that stepped up and fought alongside their soldiers, the U.S. did not offer protection to the families of those heroes that did the same, why would I ever sign up to do that for the United States?

LAWRENCE: That view is shared by more than 30 members of Congress from both parties, some of them veterans. They wrote to the Trump administration in March demanding to know why this law isn't being implemented¹³. In April, the Department of Homeland Security responded that it expects the refugee process will speed up after adjusting to recent changes to enhance security.

Quil Lawrence, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

3 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

4 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

5 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

6 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

7 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

8 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

9 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

10 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

11 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

12 vets   

abbr.veterans （复数）老手，退伍军人；veterinaries （复数）兽医n.兽医( vet的名词复数 )；老兵；退伍军人；兽医诊所v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的第三人称单数 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• I helped train many young vets and veterinary nurses too. 我还帮助培训了许多年青的兽医和护士。 来自互联网
• In fact, we've expanded mental health counseling and services for our vets. 实际上，我们已经扩大了退伍军人的心理健康咨询和服务。 来自互联网

13 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句