Gabe Ortiz Daily Kos Staff
Immigrant
military recruits, by enlisting, are telling the U.S. government that they
are willing to put their lives on the line in service of their new
country.
The U.S. government is telling them, “no thanks,” following an AP report that “some immigrant
U.S. Army reservists and recruits who enlisted in the military with a promised
path to citizenship are being abruptly discharged.”
At
least 40 immigrant recruits have reportedly been discharged or fallen into
“questionable” status, with no explanation why.
But, “there is evidence,” going
back at least a year, that “the government is trying to strangle the
immigrant recruitment program with bureaucracy,” Washington Post reporter Alex
Horton tweeted.
In March, “the federal agency in charge of processing citizenship ... shuttered all of its offices at US Army basic training locations.”
Last September, the military
“abruptly canceled enlistment contracts” for hundreds of recruits.
The June before that, an “overtasked
vetting process and heightened security risk led officials to recommend
canceling enlistment contracts” for 1,800 immigrant recruits with specialized
skills.
It’s
not just immigrant recruits. Military Times reports “the government is
rejecting more requests from veterans and their dependents for protection from
deportation.”
Last March, the government had
to be publicly shamed into dropping deportation proceedings against Elia
Crawford, the spouse of a special forces veteran. “After the Crawfords’
story published, Military Times was contacted by several other families also
facing the deportation of a spouse.”
“Immigrants
have been serving in the Army since 1775,” said Margaret Stock, a retired Army
Reserve lieutenant colonel.
Among the first to die in the Iraq War was Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, who was formerly an
undocumented immigrant. “Killed in a tank battle in southern Iraq on March
21 [2003],” Gutierrez was awarded posthumous U.S. citizenship.
Immigrants
have died serving this country, and they’re willing to do it still.
But instead
of welcoming them, the government is doing the bidding of an
anti-immigrant draft dodger.
“It was my dream to serve in the
military,” said reservist Lucas Calixto, a Brazilian immigrant. “Since this
country has been so good to me, I thought it was the least I could do to give
back to my adopted country and serve in the United States military.”
“There
were so many tears in my eyes that my hands couldn’t move fast enough to wipe
them away,” said a Pakistani service member who found out that he had been
discharged. “I was devastated, because I love the U.S. and was so honored to be
able to serve this great country.”
