Veterans Raise Alarm Over Effect of Executive Order on Iraqi Interpreters

Yesterday KQED, Northern California’s NPR and PBS affiliate, aired a segment entitled, “Veterans Worry Travel Ban Puts Foreign Interpreters Who Assisted U.S. at Risk.” Featuring an interview with Veterans for American Ideals leader Kelsey Campbell, a U.S. Air Force veteran and former Pentagon adviser, the program highlighted the likely impact President Trump’s executive order barring refugees and immigrants could have on our national security.

Recorded prior to yesterday afternoon’s reports that the Department of Homeland Security decided it will provide exemptions to Iraqis who worked alongside U.S. forces, Campbell argued that the executive order will not only break our commitment to our allies and place them in danger, but it will hurt current and future overseas missions: “We still have troops over there, we still have a great need for local interpreters and fixers and it’s going to be very hard to recruit and employ locals to serve alongside us if they know this is a very real possibility coming down the pike.”

Listen to the entire segment at KQED’s Soundcloud page.