Iraqi Translator Supports Trump’s Executive Order on Immigration

A former Iraqi interpreter who served alongside U.S. Navy SEALs under the code name “Johnny Walker” told San Diego’s public radio station KPBS that he supports President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily restricting travel from seven terror-prone countries, including Iraq, while suspending the refugee resettlement program.

Walker, who worked with “American Sniper” hero Chris Kyle, has written a book about his experiences and still goes by his code name to protect his identity. He told KPBS that he felt safer as a result of the executive order:

Because I want to feel safe in this country. I don’t want to carry my gun again and protect my family. I don’t want to sleep and my AK-47 underneath my pillow waiting for someone to attack me or attack my family. I don’t want to have that feeling again the same feeling back in Iraq. And if you look at the seven countries, and especially Syria — you know, I lived in Iraq, Syria was next door to me. There’s no database, there is nothing. And how you can feel safe if you bring someone to live next door to you, it make[s] no sense.

…

We need to filter people that come to the United States and we need to give people who deserve this chance because I know you guys, as Americans, you don’t feel how much the United States [is] valued. Like I told you, when I [was a] teenager the only dream I had was United States. So it was worth it to wait, it was worth it to pay the price, and it was worth it to feel safe when you came here.

Asked whether the executive order will hurt America’s reputation among Muslims, he disagreed, saying that view was held by “only uneducated people” and “only people with politic[al] Obama agenda[s].” He also asked why Muslim countries were not accepting the refugees. “How about Arabic, Muslim, rich countries?”

Challenged about the fate of other Iraqis who had also helped the U.S., but were left stranded by Trump’s policy, Walker stressed that they would eventually be able to pass into the country after the pause ended. “All of them, they stop it for 90 days and I am very sure the Trump administration will do everything to give second chance to people [that] deserve it.”

Photo: file

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.