Supporting Our Partners in Afghanistan
Floor Speech
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Mr. CRENSHAW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of legislation called the HOPE and ALLIES Act to support our interpreters in Afghanistan.
I can't tell you how important this is on a personal level to me. In 2012, I was hit by an IED blast. That IED went off because one of our interpreters stepped on a pressure plate. His name was Raqman. He was responding to a call, responding to do his job, like they do day in and day out. They never get a break. And he stepped on that IED, about 10 to 15 pounds of explosives, and it ripped off all four of his limbs right away. I couldn't see him because I was blinded by the blast, but I could hear him.
When someone gets hit by an IED--you have probably seen in the movies--you think they scream. But they don't scream. They don't have the energy to scream. It is more like a groan. It is the deepest kind of pain that you can imagine. And I will never forget that sound.
Before he was hit, he expressed to us that one of his dreams would be to come back to San Diego, California, enlist in the military, and become a Navy SEAL. That was the kind of patriotism that he had. He wasn't even a citizen. Imagine if our own citizens loved their country the way that these guys did.
And that story is not unique. Raqman later died, but that legacy lived on. These interpreters showed such dedication to the cause; it is unimaginable, really. And as military units rotate in and out, we get to go home, we see our families. The interpreters stay out there. It is just another day for them. Meanwhile, their families are under threat. They are receiving anonymous phone calls constantly, threatening their lives, calling them infidels all because they supported the United States.
Now we are about to leave them. This administration is not doing enough to make sure that they don't get left to die. I am confident this body will do what it can, but it takes this administration to actually do something now before this hasty retreat occurs and before thousands and thousands and thousands of interpreters and contractors are killed; and they will be killed. They absolutely will be killed. Their families will be killed. The threats have already come, and it will happen if we don't do something about it.
Mr. Speaker, I call on this administration to do something about it. I call on the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to get this process going, to expedite this process as quickly as possible. These people are heroes and they need to come to their new home here in the United States.
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