Younes, a 40-year-old former US Army interpreter from Diyala province, Iraq; he works as an English teacher

“I was at the last step of the resettlement process. I’d done all the interviews and checks, I did the medical exam and got the visa, but according to the last news I heard, it’s all over for us.

I spent more than two years working on the paperwork, and this was after I spent more than three years working on the frontline with the US Army.

Two of my brothers were killed by terrorists because of my job. Iraq is too dangerous for people like us who worked with the US Army. I have people following us, watching my family, trying to get our address. My kids are 13, 9 and 6. It’s just not safe for them. One of my brothers, he also worked as an interpreter with the Army.

We filed our paperwork together and he moved to Seattle three years ago with his wife and three kids. Now they have Green Cards, but they can’t come see us here, and we can’t go there. We’re separated. I feel angry, disappointed, all the bad feelings. I trusted the Americans, I gave everything for them, and they let me down. The US Army has this thing they say, ‘we don’t leave anyone behind’ – but they left us.”