Help Wanted

Congress has finally pried open America's door to Iraqis and Afghans who have served this country at great risk. Congress needs to go a lot further, adding more visa slots and approving resettlement benefits that would allow these people to grab the lifeline the United States has been far too slow to offer.

Translators, interpreters and thousands of others have aided American troops and diplomats - and have become targets for militants. Under current American law, 500 Iraqis and Afghans per year who have worked for the United States armed forces for a year, may obtain special immigrant visas.

Those numbers are shamefully low. And even those who do get visas often don't have the many thousands of dollars they need to make the move. Immigrants who arrive as refugees are eligible for travel loans and resettlement and housing assistance. The Iraqis and Afghans arriving under these special visas are not. The costs - including special passport and visa fees, living expenses in Jordan while security interviews are conducted, airfare and three months of living expenses here - are a staggering ,000 to ,000 for a family of four.

Jason Faler, an Army captain from Oregon, is trying to make up for the American government's neglect. Mr. Faler's Iraqi interpreter decided to flee the country after his house was burned to the ground and one of his colleagues was kidnapped and murdered. The killers took the dead man's cellphone and called Mr. Faler's interpreter, telling him: "You're next."

The interpreter, his wife and three children managed to make it to the United States, but it took much of their money. They have been living in the finished basement of Mr. Faler's parents' house for a month, and Mr. Faler has established a foundation (www.cponefoundation.org) to help defray the costs and help others escape. So far, he's raised less than ,000.

Private efforts are immensely laudable, but this is a government responsibility. Some lawmakers seem to be waking up to that. The Senate last week approved an amendment to the labor, health and human services appropriations bill that would grant Iraqi and Afghan interpreters and translators the same relocation benefits as refugees for six months. Conferees are negotiating a final bill this week, and it would be a travesty if they dropped this aid.

Congress should also pass a bill sponsored by Republican Gordon Smith and Democrat Edward Kennedy that would raise the number of special immigrant visas available for Iraqis and Afghans who have worked for the United States from 500 to 5,000 a year for the next five years. The bill would also streamline what is now a tortuous process. This country owes this and more to the men and women who have risked their lives to help Americans.