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Legislation to expand visas for interpreters

Staff Sgt. Larry Marcum thought the man on the other end of the phone was a foreign telemarketer.

But it was Max, the interpreter who served with him and his military transition team in 2006 in Taji, Iraq.

“He said, ‘Hey, I’m coming,’ ” Marcum said. “I said, ‘Great! What do you need?’ ”

Max, 26, had received a visa under the State Department’s Special Immigrant Visa program, which allows qualified Afghan and Iraqi translators or interpreters to migrate to the U.S. As he prepared to move from Baghdad to America, Max would need more than just a plane ticket and some cash.

“Once he had his paperwork, it was his ball game,” Marcum said. “He had no guidance besides, ‘I’m going to America to Sergeant Marcum’s house.’ We had spoken on missions and chow and I told him he was welcome to come to my house and I meant it, but I didn’t really think it was going to happen.”

Max, who declined to provide his full name because his family still lives in Iraq, arrived in America in October. Seven months later, the 26-year-old with a degree in computer science still lives with Marcum and his family in Hartselle, Ala., and works at Domino’s Pizza.

“We’ve been trying to get it going,” Marcum said. “He, in his mind, thought he was going to come here and work for the United States Army or that the government would take care of him. In America there really wasn’t much [of a] safety net unless you knew somebody. A lot of [service members] are taking a lot of responsibility for a lot of these gentlemen who are coming over here.”

Max is one of the hundreds of Iraqis and Afghans who move to the United States after serving alongside American troops in their home countries. He also likely is not the only one who depends on his American comrades after making the move.

The cap for the Special Immigrant Visa program is 500 visas every fiscal year, according to the State Department, but pending legislation would extend it to 5,000 for fiscal 2008. While waiting for the legislation to pass, the government continues to accept and adjudicate new visa petitions. The cap for fiscal 2009 has been increased to 5,000.

Any assistance from the government, however minor, is helpful, said Marcum, 42.

“[Max is] not looking for a hand-out [but] there’s no safety net,” he said. “I don’t know where a lot of these guys have ended up. Some of them have probably gone back to Iraq because the transition is so hard.”

Beginning Dec. 27, recipients of Special Immigrant Visas qualify for the same reception and placement benefits available to refugees, said an official from the State Department’s bureau of population, refugees and migration, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

They can be met at the airport, get help finding their first apartment or applying for a Social Security number, or have someone accompany them when they register their children for school. They also can apply for a loan to pay for their transportation to the United States.

After the initial assistance, which cannot exceed eight months, recipients who still need help fall into their new home state’s welfare program, the official said.

So far, at least 100 SIV recipients have taken advantage of the benefits offered by the State Department, which contracts with 10 local agencies responsible for providing the services.

In June, Marcum will leave Redstone Arsenal, Ala., for Fort Riley, Kan., where he’ll prepare for another deployment on a transition team. Max, who does not qualify for the State Department’s assistance program because he arrived in the country before Dec. 27, will continue to live with Marcum’s family.

Max feels guilty for staying behind while his friend deploys, Marcum said. Max continues to look for jobs, including returning to Iraq as an interpreter.

“Now that he’s got his [driver’s] license and he can get some better employment, I think his days are numbered living in my den,” Marcum said. “I told him it would be better to get a job that pays $25,000 here than $100,000 a year there. It’s too much of a chance to take by going back there.”