LEWISTON – Several Iraqis who worked with U.S. soldiers in Iraq have moved to Lewiston.

At least nine people, eight adults and one child, have come here under a U.S. State Department program designed to help war translators, many of whom have been targeted by insurgents for their aid to Americans.

Some have helped Mainers.

The details of their work – and of how many of the translators and their families might be in Maine – is uncertain, said Lt. Col. Michael Backus, spokesman for the Maine Army National Guard. The translators have a relationship with the Guard, he said.

The visa program was created in 2006 for natives of Iraq and Afghanistan who spend at least a year working with the U.S. military as translators.

It was originally designed to help 50 people and their families. But the demand, in the wake of threats against the translators and their families, was extraordinary. In June, the law was expanded to give visas to 500 translators in 2007 and 500 more in 2008, according to the State Department Web site.

The immigration process is not simple. Each applicant for the visa must get a reference from an admiral or a general and prove their service to America.

“They risk their lives, serving as a critical link between U.S. troops and the Iraqi and Afghani people,” reads an informational page on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site.

The site quotes an unidentified translator:

“On many occasions, I have been threatened and told my kids would be kidnapped,” he wrote. “Yet, I have never thought about quitting because I believe in democracy and the stability of my country. I just want to be able to provide a safe haven for my family and being able to take my family to America would do that.”

The new residents have had to navigate a complex web of immigration rules and regulations.

Because the visa program is so new, the city of Lewiston is working to clear up the new immigrants’ rights, said Phil Nadeau, deputy city administrator.

“I’m trying to get my arms around the situation,” he said.

Though the Iraqis are eligible for general assistance from the city, neither the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration, nor the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the food stamp program, has been explicit about the visa-holders’ rights.

Nadeau hopes to get clarification from the federal offices that the Iraqis can use to get state and federal welfare.

“They did not come here through the regular refugee resettlement process,” said Nadeau. He has been working with people from Maine’s congressional delegation to speed up the clarification.

He hopes to be ready if more people come forward who need a hand.

If not, it will be added to the agenda when he and Lewiston Mayor Laurent Gilbert travel next month to Washington to meet with the Maine delegation on refugee and immigrant issues, Nadeau said.