Military Expands Immigrant Recruitment Pool

by Dave Bennion · 2008-12-15 08:00:00 UTC
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The U.S. military has moved to recruit additional immigrants lawfully present beyond permanent residents:

WASHINGTON, DC - The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) commends Defense Secretary Robert Gates for authorizing the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to recruit more foreigners living in the United States in legal status - including those present to study or work - to make up for chronic shortages of doctors, nurses and linguists available for wartime duty.

"The bottom line is that the Pentagon lacks sufficient numbers of doctors and nurses to treat wounded troops and needs more troops with foreign-language skills to help navigate diverse cultures," said Charles H. Kuck, President of AILA. "Our history has shown that the US military has long accepted noncitizens that are permanent residents of the United States and hold green cards. This action enables the services to recruit certain legal residents whose critical medical and language skills are vital to the national interest. The US military recruited these persons in prior wars, and it makes sense to recruit them now."

To be eligible under the program, according to a Defense Department fact sheet, the applicants must have lived legally in the United States for at least two years as a refugee, asylum seeker, or under so-called "temporary protected status," or have been in the United States for the same period in one of certain other legal statuses. They cannot have traveled outside the United States for more than 90 days at a time in the two years prior to enlistment.

The medical personnel accepted under the program would be required to serve at least three years on active duty, or six years in the Selected Reserve, and foreign language specialists would be required to serve four years of active duty. The new recruits into the armed forces would get accelerated treatment in the process toward becoming U.S. citizens in return for military service.

What do readers think about this development?  It is similar to the provisions of the proposed DREAM Act under which applicants could qualify for permanent residence through completion of two years of either college or military service.

I know that conditioning permanent residence on military service has been controversial within the pro-migrant community, and as a pacifist, I am sympathetic to both sides of the argument.

I have many concerns about this program, but they are broad ideological concerns I have about the military and about citizenship and nationality.  I can't say I oppose this program in the near term.

What do you think?

[Image: José Antonio Gutierrez, one of the first U.S. soldiers to die in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.  He was awarded citizenship after his death.]

Dave Bennion
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