When the five visas came through – enough for his three children and his wife - Hameed Khalid Darweesh wasted no time. He and his family boarded the first flight they could get from Erbil in Kurdistan to New York, via Istanbul.

Mr Darweesh had spent a decade working for American forces in Iraq, first as a translator for the 101st Airborne in Baghdad and Mosul when it was commanded by Gen David Petraeus, and then later for contractors supporting the American force.

The reason for his haste, according to papers filed in a New York federal court, was that he feared his life was in danger.