Steve Israel: “this amendment solves a critical deficiency in our warfighting and our peacekeeping capabilities by strengthening the…”

“this amendment solves a critical deficiency in our warfighting and our peacekeeping capabilities by strengthening the Arab language capabilities in the Department of Defense and Department of State. There are literally hundreds of Iraqis in the United States who supported our military units as translators in Iraq. They risked their lives, they risked their families' lives. They went on patrol in very dangerous areas, told our servicemembers what the enemy was saying, what was being said. Then they came here to escape persecution, and when they got here, they wanted to continue providing those critical linguistic abilities and they were told there was no place for them to work. Many of them today are working in Safeways and working in Home Depots and working in restaurants, instead of providing the linguistic capabilities that we desperately need in the military theater. Study after study after study, including the Quadrennial Defense Review, points to the critical deficiency we have in understanding the cultures and languages that we are fighting in. Our Nation now has hundreds of people who grew up in those cultures, speak those languages, pass background checks, risk their lives, and what do we do, even though we need their skills? We let them bag groceries at a Safeway. It doesn't make any sense.”