The Defense Department Comes Up With Way to Deal With Illegal Immigration, and It’s Not Deportation


3,177 Shares By Kevin Boyd 10 hours ago
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The Department of Defense is set to allow undocumented immigrants, or illegal aliens, to serve in the U.S. armed forces, if they possess a skill that is in high demand by the military.
Among the skills that are prized right now are an expertise in certain languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Pashto, and Persian.
USA Today has more:
The new rules will expand an existing program allowing recruiters to target foreign nationals with high-demand skills, mostly rare foreign language expertise or specialized health care training.
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For the first time, the program — known as Military Accessions in the National Interest, or MAVNI — will be open to immigrants without a proper visa if they came to the U.S. with their parents before age 16. More specifically, they must be approved under a 2012 Obama administration policy known as Deferred Action for Child Arrivals, or DACA.
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The new Pentagon policy may be the first phase of a broader government-wide effort to ease pressure on immigrants and create new paths to citizenship. President Barack Obama, frustrated with the failure of Congress to pass any substantial immigration reform, has vowed to aggressively use his presidential authority to change the way immigration policies are carried out.
The requirements to qualify for DACA include entering the U.S. illegally before age 16, graduating high school or obtaining a GED, military service, and living continuously in the U.S. since June 15, 2007.
The U.S. military recruits around 5,000 noncitizens a year, and the MAVNI program is capped at 1,500 recruits a year. Foreigners recruited for the U.S. military become eligible for expedited U.S. citizenship, and more than 92,000 foreign-born soldiers have become citizens while in uniform.
The comments on the USA Today article were mixed, with one commenter lamenting the Obama defense cuts and the fact that the military is turning away American citizens yet accepting illegal immigrants.

However, another commenter points out that the military is a path for young men and women to better themselves:

It’s actually not uncommon around the world for militaries to recruit foreigners, despite their immigration status.
The French Foreign Legion is the most famous example, but the current war in Ukraine has drawn in foreign volunteers on both sides as well.
During the American Revolution, the 1st Partisan Corps of the Continental Army, which was also known as Armand’s Legion, was recruited from mostly foreign volunteers.

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/09/1815...ed-immigrants/