U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., Thursday introduced a bill that would provide 4,000 additional special visas to translators who have helped American troops during the Afghanistan War.
This new legislation is based on a program that began in 2008.
Although the U.S. has authorized thousands of visas over the years, Blumenauer said there’s still a backlog of about 20,000 people who have applied.
“Two interpreters die every three days in Afghanistan now,” he said. “Their families are at risk. The pipeline to the United States has been slowed — too much bureaucracy and red tape.”
Along with providing those additional visas, the bill would also require the State Department to provide suggestions to Congress for improving the program and report on the obstacles that have resulted in so many people still waiting.
“There are all sorts of hoops that [the translators] have to jump through to verify what they did, where they did it, who they worked with,” Blumenauer said. “It’s a cumbersome, tedious and long drawn out process.”
Blumenauer called the bill an “important bipartisan effort.”
“We developed this special immigrant visa with John McCain, with Teddy Kennedy, this was over 10 years ago,” he said. “And we continue to fight to have them authorized every year.”