Immigrant Veterans Should Not Be Deported

by Michael Jones · 2010-03-15 14:38:00 UTC
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FlagMaya Angelou gets it. She once implored us to recognize how important it is to take the time to recognize our heroes and she-roes. That includes veterans -- the folks who sacrifice in service of their country, often times putting their lives on the line.

Yet, when it comes to immigrant veterans, the U.S. fails. Too often, when immigrant veterans return from service, they're only given one thing: detention, often times leading to deportation.

Last week, Immigrant Rights blogger Alex DiBranco wrote that activists estimate that thousands of immigrant veterans who served in the U.S. military have been deported back to their country. Worse yet, upwards of 3,000 immigrant veterans are currently in U.S. detention centers, awaiting deportation. Is this really the message the U.S. wants to send the world about how we take care of our troops?

It's time to let our lawmakers know that those that serve our country deserve to be treated with respect and dignity when the come home, regardless of the country from which they were born. These are troops who have served the U.S. with integrity. The least we can do is show them the same level of integrity once they return home.

Veterans Today captures this quite well. They point out that it's not only hypocritical for the U.S. to detain and deport immigrant veterans, it's a national shame.

"Immigrant veterans are being deported from the adopted country they love, discarded after answering the call of duty in defense of liberty, freedom and the pursuit of happiness," VT writes. "We ask them to join our Military and stand for our principles and they do so with great pride.  They deserve the highest respect awarded, period!"

Indeed, we promise soldiers that if they volunteer to serve America, we'll reward them upon completion of their service with respect, opportunities, and dignity. We are, in no uncertain terms, failing across the board here.

Enough lip service. We are either a nation that follows through on its promise to honor all veterans, or we're a nation that treats some men and women in uniform as dispensable once they return home. But we cannot be a great nation and practice the latter.

Urge your lawmakers to review the policy on detaining and deporting immigrant veterans. Sacrificing your life for the country should most certainly be enough to earn a seat at America's table.

Photo credit: U.S. Army

Michael Jones
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