For thousands of Afghan and Iraqi nationals who served as interpreters with the U.S. military, visa applications to gain permanent legal residence in the United States have languished in legal limbo for years. Now there may be help on the way, in the form of a court ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s a step long overdue, says Haeder Alanbki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like many Iraqi and Afghan interpreters, Alanbki, now living in Florida, risked his life helping Americans. He served as an interpreter for U.S. forces in Iraq where he was shot, stabbed four times and had a $25,000 bounty placed on his head. At the end of his service, he came to the United States through the delayed Special Immigrant Visa (SIV)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like thousands of other applicants, his journey to become a U.S. citizen proved difficult, marked by legal ambiguity, continual delays and false starts. He was only granted citizenship after the Tampa Bay Times began asking questions about his case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This week, however, a judge granted \u201cclass certification\u201d to Afghan and Iraqi nationals suing the federal government for overdue visa decisions, allowing thousands of outstanding cases to be included in a class-action lawsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alanbki believes there is a disconnect between military personnel who served with the interpreters and the officials who review the applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat you see on the ground is different than what you see sitting at a computer behind your desk,\u201d Alanbki said over the phone. \u201cA lot of troops from the U.S. military, they deal with a lot of interpreters. They know how they sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a sentiment echoed by Qudratullah Hakimi, a former interpreter who risked his life assisting Marines in combat and once saved the life of an American lieutenant colonel. Like Alanbki, Hakimi also battled for years to come to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is a pity that it took this long to push the matter to the court level. I am hopeful this will bring an end to the lengthy process of the so-called \u2018administration process,\u2019\u201d Hakimi, now living in California and working as a distribution center shift manager, told Military Times via a Facebook message. \u201cI was talking with a couple of the interpreters in Afghanistan who are currently waiting on their visas. They seem to be happy about this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Alanbki, Hakimi was only granted an SIV after intervention from a newspaper, in this case the Tampa Tribune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, district judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled<\/a> in favor of the five anonymous Afghan and Iraqi nationals, \u201cwho, despite significant personal risk, aided the United States in its time of need and now look to the United States for refuge for themselves and their immediate family members.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The federal government now has 30 days to submit a plan to adjudicate long-delayed visa applications that have been pending for more than nine months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are thrilled that the judge is holding the government accountable to its obligations to the thousands of men and women who have sacrificed so much in serving the U.S. missions abroad,\u201d said Deepa Alagesan, a supervising attorney at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), in a press release<\/a>. \u201cMany of them wait in fear for their lives every day, so this ruling will come as a great relief. We are hopeful that the government will assess their applications fairly and speedily and bring them to safety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis decision is an essential step toward keeping our promises to the thousands of Afghans and Iraqis who risked their lives for the United States,\u201d said Rebecca Curwin, an associate with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP, in the release. \u201cWe look forward to the government\u2019s efficient adjudication of applications that have been pending for years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Department of Justice declined to comment on the ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alanbki, now a specialist in the Florida National Guard, languished under the federal government\u2019s vetting process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said that these officials don\u2019t always realize \u201cthey have the power to decide somebody\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n