New Haven

AS the United States ends combat operations in Iraq today, it is leaving behind the thousands of Iraqis who worked on behalf of the American government  and who fear their lives and families are threatened by insurgents as a result.

In 2008 Congress significantly expanded a program that provided these Iraqis with visas to immigrate to the United States. But in the intervening years, the program has proven to be a bureaucratic failure. Unless we improve the resettlement process for our Iraqi allies, their lives will continue to be in danger long after the last American soldier has returned home.

The basic problem with the program, called the special immigrant visa, is that it treats applicants  many of whom are on the run and often facing death threats  as if they were being audited by the Internal Revenue Service.

First, to apply for a visa Iraqis have to get a letter of clearance from the American Embassy, a step that can involve bizarre requirements: for example, the embassy has at times asked applicants who were low-level employees of major contractors to list all contracts between their former employers and the American government, information they almost certainly don’t have.