One thing is clear: The military will not knowingly allow illegal immigrants to serve.
Unless the current law were to be changed, the services are not permitted to enlist illegal immigrants.

President Obama’s decision last week to immediately halt the deportation of certain young illegal immigrants generated widespread joy and relief among the undocumented and their advocates.

But the major policy shift, which Obama said included those who have served in the military, also stirred confusion. Mitt Romney did not help matters Thursday when he, too, said he would support a path to legal residency for “those who have risked their lives in defense of America.”

Shift leads to confusion on status within military

The Boston Globe
June 23, 2012
WASHINGTON

One thing is clear: The military will not knowingly allow illegal immigrants to serve.

“Unless the current law were to be changed, or an individual were declared by the services to be vital to the national interest, the services are not permitted to enlist illegal immigrants,” said a Department of Defense spokesperson, who did not know why Obama had included military service as a condition.

An official with the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged that “few, if any, individuals will fall into this category” that Obama referred to last week.

The official said that the department chose to include undocumented servicemen and women “out of an abundance of caution” to ensure that those who may have lost their legal status while enlisted would be covered. The new policy would grant two-year work permits to young immigrants who qualify instead of deporting them.

The president appeared to clarify his earlier statement during a speech Friday to a group of Latino government officials, lamenting that current immigration law “denies innocent young people the chance to . . . serve in the uniform of the country they love.”

A Romney spokesperson said the former Massachusetts governor would favor legislation that would allow illegal immigrants to enlist in the military as a path toward permanent residency, but the spokesperson did not specify whom Romney was referring to in Thursday’s address to the same group of Latino officials.

Illegal immigrants have managed to get into the military using fake papers .

“A lot of these undocumented youth grew up and educated themselves feeling American,” said Antonio Albizures-Lopez, a 21-year-old undocumented immigrant from Guatemala whose parents brought him to the United States when he was 1. Lopez, a community college student in Rhode Island, said he knows of several friends who are illegal immigrants currently enlisted in the military. “A lot of them take a patriotic sentiment to being an American and they want to serve the country in which they grew up.”