Saad Danno spent six years helping Americans in Iraq during the U.S.-led occupation of his country, first as an aid worker and later as a translator.
After the U.S. mission ended in 2012, “all the translators were threatened,” said Danno, 38. “We would find letters on our cars, on the doors of our houses.” He waited three years for his visa, but has lived in Michigan since July with his wife and two children, working as a delivery man for a bakery.
His mother and brother are still in Iraq, trying to join him.
They could be stuck there, vulnerable to retaliation from anti-U.S. militants, under legislation passed by the Republican-majority U.S. House of Representatives after the November Paris attacks that makes U.S. entry harder for refugees from Syria and Iraq.
There are about 58,000 Iraqis, including former allies of the U.S. military like Danno and their relatives, living in potential danger and now seeking U.S. refugee status.
Their escape could be further delayed by the refugee legislation, which may be included in a spending bill that must pass next week.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has expressed concern that Washington might turn its back on individuals like Danno, who risked their lives for Americans.
“We owe him,” Pelosi told Reuters.
President Barack Obama, a Democrat, has promised to veto the House bill if it is approved on its own by the Senate. But activists said Obama could be under heavy pressure to sign if it is included in the spending package, which must pass to prevent a government shutdown.
The Security Against Foreign Enemies Act could add months to the refugee screening process because it bars their entry until top officials can vouch for them. Screenings already takes 18-24 months for refugees from Syria and Iraq.
A spokeswoman for the bill’s Republican sponsor, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, said Iraqis could still be admitted as refugees under the measure.
“The bill would not prohibit the administration from determining that certain individuals, such as Iraqis who served honorably alongside U.S. troops in Iraq, are not a threat to our country,” the spokeswoman said.
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who has sponsored legislation to admit Iraqis who worked with Americans, said Iraqis “who worked side by side with U.S. soldiers” already face lengthy waits.
“It would be unconscionable to further delay or totally block their entry into the United States,” she said.
