US House expands visas for Iraqi, Afghan translators

WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) The US House of Representatives passed legislation granting special immigration visas to hundreds of Iraqi and Afghan translators whose lives are endangered because they helped US forces.

By a vote of 412-8, the House passed the legislation yesterday that was also embraced by the Senate earlier this year.

The measure, which President George W Bush is expected to sign into law, would grant up to 500 special visas for the foreign translators and interpreters who have helped in the US war effort.

''These translators and interpreters who serve bravely alongside our troops need our immediate assistance. Singled out as collaborators, many are now targets by death squads, militias, and al-Qaeda,'' said Rep. Howard Berman, a California Democrat.

Democrats have pressed the Bush administration to open the United States to more Iraqi refugees and supporters, but acknowledged this legislation would help only a relatively small number of them.

About 4 million of Iraq's 24 million people are thought to have fled their country because of sectarian violence or have left their homes for safer areas inside Iraq.

Lawmakers have complained that last year, the United States accepted only 202 Iraqis out of its 70,000 refugee slots worldwide, despite the worsening refugee crisis.

REUTERS KK PM0430